Watch Finally on Way Out

Let’s hear it for the North East Town Board for deciding that it does not want to continue its relationship with John Watch of MJW Consultants, the specialist who conducted the 2004 property revaluation and subsequent annual assessments.

Watch’s work has been under fire for some time, especially by the watchdog group the North East Tax Revolt Alliance (NETRA), which has done a tremendous job in presenting its case to the Town Board. NETRA demanded that the annual assessment process stop — it’s now on hold — and that Watch’s six-year contract be cancelled; the town’s attorney is being contacted to advise how to best do that.

It took some time before the Town Board appeared willing to sever ties with Watch, but during that time the board was doing its homework.

It hired consultant Robert Strell to review Watch’s practices, which did not appear to be best suited for the town. For example, Watch reportedly valued farmland incorrectly. Strell said that many of the farmland data cards were incomplete and that "corrective action is necessary."

Additionally, Watch did not break down vacant land for the appraisals into land types, such as wetlands, pasture lands, buildable lots, etc. That type of information is key to setting land values.

Watch also opted to use his own data collection cards rather than cards provided by the state, which are more universal and provide a better history of the properties in question.

Strell’s research provided the board with some much-needed evidence that Watch was not the right consultant for the town. To do so it took a random sampling of 200 homes to evaluate. Those findings showed that there was some inequity in the assessment process by the second year. Some assessments were under market values and others were over market values. That’s why the town is now talking about doing a fresh assessment for 2008. (It’s too late to do anything for 2007, according to Assessor Jon Barrett.)

"Something went haywire in the second year and there’s an inherent problem that’s now existing," Strell has said before the town during a public meeting on the matter. "You have to correct it. You can’t live with it."

Those are pretty strong words, and they were followed by Strell’s recommendation to do another assessment.

Although Strell tried to stay neutral on the subject of John Watch, it’s obvious that another consultant, or the assessor’s office itself, should conduct the next assessment. Watch did what he could for the town; he got the town up to 100 percent equalization rate when the properties were originally revaluated. But now it’s getting messy, and property owners in North East are left with unfair assessments that need to be addressed.

Let’s thank the Town Board for taking the steps to do that, for hiring Strell to review the process and for considering cutting its ties with Watch. It’s not been easy, but it’s been necessary.