Johnston Town Council seeks Covid delay for full property reassessments

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Full reassessments of homes in Johnston may be delayed a year, following a unanimous vote by Johnston Town Council last week.

The state still needs to approve the resolution.

During a special meeting of Town Council on Thursday, May27, Johnston Mayor Joseph M. Polisena urged members to vote to delay assessments, which require on-site visits and home entrances by property evaluators.

"First of all, people are just getting over Covid," he said this week. "This year would be a full re-evaluation, and they'll have to go inside the home and on the property. I don't people will be very comfortable with that. I thought it was best to put it on hold until next year."

State law requires statistical reassessments of properties in each municipality every three years, and full evaluations every 10 years.

Polisena helped lead an effort to increase the time between evaluations, from three years to seven years for statistical assessments, and 10 years to 15 years for full evaluation assessments.

"That effort was to no avail," Polisena said. "The legislature never passed it for some reason."

The pandemic, however, has convinced Polisena the process needs to slow down, at least for this year.

"By next year, hopefully, Covid will be in our rearview mirror," he said. "I feel this is in the best interest, of first and foremost the taxpayers, and also those who do the re-evaluations."

If reassessments were completed on schedule, Polisena said he doesn't "think we'll get a full and accurate reading of what properties are worth."

The town puts requests for evaluators out to bid. This year, the town has not yet started the bidding process.

"I don't think it will be that much of a loss as far as losing revenue," Polisena said. "Taxes have been stable for four years. I know property values are high, but I don't think they will drop next year."

Polisena expects the town will seek bids for evaluations by January or February of 2022.

"People are still concerned and afraid," Polisena said. "To have someone come into the home and look around, poke around, they're not ready for that. I think by next year we will be back to normal and stronger than ever. I explained the same thing to council members."

Getting an accurate measurement of property values throughout the town is Polisena's top priority.

"You don't want to overvalue, or undervalue someone's home," Polisena said.

Within four weeks, Polisena, a former state senator, plans to contact the Rhode Island Speaker of the House and Senate president, to discuss the requested delay. The mayor is confident Johnston will not be the only municipality in the state requesting a delay.

"I think this is something we can get done pretty quick," he said.

The short special meeting of Town Council lasted less than 15 minutes.

Resolution 2021-19: A Resolution Requesting that the General Assembly Extend the Town's Revaluation Cycle by One (1) Year for the purposes of Health and Safety, passed unanimously in a 5-0 vote.

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