Over 500 property owners on Westport Island will be receiving abatement checks from the town. The selectmen signed abatement forms totaling $48,000 at their meeting Monday evening.

The abatements are a result of a human error made on the computer assessing program, amounting to $1.4 million over in assessments. According to the selectmen, porches, decks and addition values were double assessed, creating a 200 percent factor instead of 100 percent.

The abatements range from $1 to $1,500 in individual rebates. According to First Selectman George Richardson the $48,000 will be taken from the overlay account.

Richardson said the board appreciated the help given by Newburg Associates in resolving the problem. Newburg Associates is the firm that prepared the town's assessing program.

The selectmen will be at the town office January 12 and 13, from 2-5 p.m. for property owners who have questions on the tax bills. Anyone who would like to speak with the selectmen is asked to call Susan Partelow, the town tax collector, at 882-8477, to set up an appointment prior to the meeting dates.

Westport Island resident Dennis Dunbar told the selectmen changing the assessing procedures to eliminate the six different water tables to evaluate land values and creating a single waterfront table is not accurately reflecting a true market price value to the land.

According to Dunbar, the property owners with mudflats are the most affected. He said there are 69 properties in town with mudflats, and those property values have increased an average of 80 percent since last year. He is researching the value increase to this year's sales value, to determine if the values placed on the land with mudflats are a fair assessment.

Dunbar also told the selectmen that the Back River Alliance is meeting with Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) to discuss a Regional Impact Assessing District Tuesday, December 18, at the CEI office on Water Street, at 2:30 p.m.

The object of the district is to ensure that no town in an impact region is financially harmed from a project in another town without consideration, according to Dunbar. Richardson told Dunbar legislation would be needed to implement such a district. Dunbar said, "I totally agree with you. That is why we are going to CEI. They are the only regional group in the area."

The selectmen have sent letters to each of the three residents that are seeking to overturn the town planning board's approval of the Ferry Landing project in a Superior Court action. The three residents, E. Davies Allan, Michael Sterns, and Paul Nergaard expressed an interest in negotiating an out-of court settlement in an effort to save the town money. However, Nergaard had suggested a one on one negotiation, with one selectman and one of the three of them doing the negotiating.

The selectmen reacted to the suggestion by writing a short letter to each of them.

"The selectmen of the town are always interested in learning how money can be saved," they said. "No appointment or arranged meeting is necessary. Every week, at every selectmen's meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. on Mondays, there is ample opportunity for citizens to speak with the selectmen, and we are always ready to listen."