Emergency Action Needed!

According to the town assessor's data, 418 millionaire property owners in Charlestown had the assessments cut on their properties by an average of 20%. Only 41 of them - all in the lower millionaire bracket and none in the $3.5 million-plus bracket  - received assessment increases.

You're sitting on your veranda and watching the tide go out when suddenly, your maid brings you a silver salver holding a letter from the town. Your Shady Harbor estate is no longer worth $5 million. The town now considers your beloved home to only be worth $4 million. You pass out and fall face first into a bucket of caviar. Oh the humanity!

On the CCA e-mails, you can actually read the tragic stories of humiliated South of One millionaires crying about their lowered assessments.

I feel so moved by their plight that I demand our Town Council take swift and immediate action. I believe the Town Council needs to enact the following as an emergency ordinance.

The Town Council of the Town of Charlestown hereby ordains that Chapter 58 of the Code of Ordinances, Town of Charlestown entitled Tax Assessment Review, is amended as follows:

     § 58-7. Appeals of assessments.

     ....

K. Any person owning property assessed at one million dollars or more who feels the town has insulted their dignity by reducing that assessment may be granted an increase of up to fifty percent (50%) more than their original assessment upon written request and without dispute from the town.

Author: Will Collette