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Audit Objective

Determine whether the Town Assessors are properly administering select real property tax exemptions.

Key Findings

• Of the 252 granted exemptions we reviewed totaling approximately $7.3 million of assessed value, 97 exemptions (38 percent), valued at approximately $2.4 million in assessed value, lacked one or more pieces of supporting documentation to verify their eligibility and/or were incorrectly granted or calculated.
• Ten agricultural building exemptions lacked supporting documentation necessary for the Assessors to determine that the building was essential to the operation of a bona fide agricultural or horticultural production carried on for profit.
• The Assessors did not review the exemptions calculated by the Real Property Tax System (RPTS) after they were entered by the clerk, allowing errors in the calculation of these exemptions to go undetected.

Key Recommendations

• Ensure all applicants provide adequate supporting documentation before granting exemptions.
• Maintain documentation to support eligibility for all granted exemptions.
• Ensure previously granted exemptions are supported and continue to meet eligibility requirements.

Except as specified in Appendix B, Town officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to take corrective action. Appendix C includes our comment on an issue raised in the Town’s response letter.