BURRILLVILLE – The estimated market value of real estate in Burrillville increased by an average of 16 percent this year, a jump on par with many communities across Rhode Island.
Residents recently received notice of changes to their property value in assessment letters from Vision Government Solutions, the company that performed this year’s statistical revaluation.
“A revaluation is the process of performing all of the necessary market analysis and valuation steps to determine accurate and equitable values for all properties within a municipality,” explained Tax Assessor Jennifer Mooney. “The equalization of the values within a city or town creates a fair distribution of the tax burden.”
Value increases were based off of 2018 property sales. They do not, Mooney notes, equate to an increase in taxes.
“It doesn’t mean your tax rate will go up,” said Mooney. “It’s adjusted proportionately.”
“The purpose of a revaluation is not to raise taxes; it is to create an equitable distribution of the tax load.”
Taxpayers should not apply the current tax rate to the new assessments to calculate their upcoming tax bill. The tax rate for 2019 has not yet been determined, and Mooney says it will decrease proportionally to make up for the increase in values.
Tax bills will go out in the second week of July, only after the Town Council determines the annual budget.
State law requires municipalities to perform a statistical revaluations every three years, and also demands that the town perform a full revaluation every nine. In the statistical, recently completed by Vision, inspections of properties only take place if there was a sale and/or permit issued in 2018, or if a property had an open permit from a previous year.
“We saw an overall increase of 16 percent, which is in line with all of the cities and towns throughout the state,” said Mooney.
Mooney says property owners can contact the Tax Assessor’s office at 401-568-4300 x 181 with any questions or concerns, especially if they want to discuss how their new assessment potentially impacts their prospective property tax.
Any property owner wishing to have their new assessment reviewed with a representative of Vision may schedule an appointment by going to www.VGSI.com/schedules, clicking on Burrillville, RI Hearings and following the instructions, or calling Vision (toll free) at 1-888-844-4300.
Mooney said that so far, she’s only received a handful of calls from property owners with questions.
“It hasn’t been too bad,” she said.