By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

Following the 2003 complete property revaluation - Hooksett's first in well over a decade - many town residents and business owners have recently been puzzled by postcards popping up in the mail.

The cards are coming from the town's assessing department and show newly adjusted assessed values, the result of updated assessing software, said Sandra Piper, Hooksett's assessing coordinator.

Many residents are now wondering why the value of their property is changing, especially when values were adjusted so recently.

Piper said the adjustments simply reflect new "state of the art" software being used by the department.

Hooksett had been using version four of software created by Vision Appraisal Technology (VAT), a Massachusetts company that provides appraisal software for several nearby towns including Concord and Candia.

Piper said the cards being distributed reflect adjustments made when they updated to version six of the VAT software. "It's not a reval(uation)," said Piper. "It is simply an update in software."

She said the cards are going to any property owner (commercial and industrial included) whose assessed value has changed by $300 or more due to the update. The new value will be used for determining the June tax bills.

Piper added that Hooksett residents can expect similar updates on a regular basis, as a 2003 rule from the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration is requiring assessors throughout the state to keep stricter tabs on property values.

"People should start getting used to this," Piper said. "The days of getting a reval once every 15 years are over."

Due to stricter regulations, Piper said her office will aim to update the values of approximately one fourth of Hooksett's properties per year, on top of tracking new sales. Piper said this strategy will allow the most efficient and affordable five-year total revaluations, as outlined by the state's regulations.

Piper said the new software is allowing properties to be valued more quickly and more accurately, though her office has gotten some complaints about rising values.

"Sales are what's determining the values in this community, and sales are rising," Piper said. "The trend is that everyone wants to live in Hooksett, so we're just keeping up."

Piper added that many people's property values stayed static through the update, and some have gone down, though she suspects those people have been less vocal about the change.

The new values on the cards are being handwritten by Piper, and she said more are on the way.