By Ryan O’Connor
Staff Writer

Donald Gleason, left, and his wife, Shirley, are unhappy about a recent reassessment that brought Hopkinton property values up 22 percent. The Gleasons’ recent tax bill showed an increase of nearly $1,600 over last year. (The Bow Times/Ryan O’Connor)

Donald Gleason gasped for air when he opened his latest tax bill.

His four-room, 720-square-foot home jumped in assessed value from $114,600 to $210,700.

Even though he is receiving a $500 veterans tax credit and $395 in elderly tax exemptions, the 78-year-old Hopkinton resident stared blankly at a four-digit number ­ $2,277 ­ triple last year’s bill of $790.

“Both my wife and I are retired, living on Social Security and not much more than that,” he said. “So, to get hit with nearly $2,300, when you’re expecting only an $800 tax bill, is really quite a surprise.”

After a total budgetary increase of more than $1.5 million between the town and school district and a recent reassessment of property value, Hopkinton residents, including Gleason, are in an uproar over their new tax bills.

Sue Strickford, tax collector and town clerk for Hopkinton, said since bills were sent out Oct. 10, she has received more than 500 unhappy phone calls and walk-ins.

“They started right away because they felt we had made a mistake,” she said. “I think it’s a shock to begin with because their assessments have drastically increased and they think something is wrong. So, when we tell them it isn’t wrong, that the tax rate is such and their portion is such, they get angry.”

Strickford said her initial reaction when residents call or walk in to complain, is to tell them to get an assessment card so they can see what is being assessed and how. And then, if their rate isn’t clarified, to get an abatement form, which residents can use to tell selectmen what they feel is an unfair assessment.

The form, she said, starts the appeal process and is a baseline for selectmen to use when reviewing appeals.

Gleason, for instance, said 50 percent of his 1.7-acre property is unusable wetland and he doesn’t think his small home will sell at the assessed value. His neighbor, Gleason said, has a significantly larger home on better land and received about $224,000 for their recently sold property.

“I can’t dispute the amount that is taxed because that’s going to go up every year, but it’s the revaluation that gets me,” Gleason said. “I would like to know how they arrived at that because I have a very small home out in the woods and nobody is going to pay me that kind of money.

“The assessment should be just below the actual value of the house, but a $97,000 jump? No thank you!”

Should residents be denied through the abatement process, Strickford said they would then have to go to the state Board of Land and Tax Appeals.

Following a 2004 revaluation, Strickford said the town was bringing assessments up from 88 percent equalized ratio to 100 percent, concerning the current market of the homes.

The net assessed valuation jumped from $620,335,819 in 2005 to $768,237,052 this year.

That, added with a net town appropriation increase from $2,827,794 to $3,328,096, and a school district increase from $12,040,575 to $13,012,247, has residents up in arms.

Even with a 2.5 percent tax rate decrease, this year’s tax rate came out to $21.05 per $1,000 assessed property value, in contrast to the 2005 rate of $23.61.

But David Lancaster, co-founder of the Hopkinton/Contoocook Taxpayers Association, said residents can only blame themselves because they start every Town and School District Meeting with a zero balance and vote on how they want to spend their tax dollars.

“This is not an assessment problem. This is a spending problem in town,” Lancaster said. “When you have a $1.5 million increase and you only have 3,000 homes, do the math. You’re going to have an average increase of about $500 per home.”

Lancaster, who is also a member of the budget committee, said residents should be more careful when voting.

“Don’t blame the assessor. Don’t blame the tax collector. Don’t blame the selectmen and don’t blame the school board. Blame yourselves,” he said.

Lancaster said the school board, selectmen and budget committee only recommend a budget, but it is the residents who determine how much is spent.

“We are paying for our wants, not our needs and I think a lot of people don’t understand the difference between the two,” he said. “People like to complain, but they don’t like to get involved. So, hopefully, this will stir people up.”

Strickford said she is worried about the many residents who may struggle financially because of the increase.

“I’m really concerned with the elderly and the effect that these bills will have on them,” Strickford said. “You fear they will have to forgo their medicine or their food to pay their bills, so that’s my main concern. But, I think the town will do what it can to help.

“The board of selectmen doesn’t want to force these people out of their homes, so they are either going to have to abate their taxes or set up some sort of fund to help them.”

Gleason shares Strickford’s concern.

“You tell me what we are suppose to cut back on because I don’t know either,” he said. “We’re either going to have to take it out of the bank or cut way back, but it’s got to come from somewhere.”

While some residents threatened to pick up and move, Gleason said he and his wife are comfortable where they live and are unwilling to relocate.

“I might be forced into it if it keeps going like this, but would I consider moving? No, or at least I hope not,” he said.

Still, Gleason said the town, and especially Strickford and Nancy Skeldon of the assessor’s office, have made the process much easier.

“They’ve been absolutely fantastic with me,” he said. “I was absolutely off the wall and they handled me just wonderfully.”