2011 LISTERS REPORT

During the assessment year so far, from April 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011, we recorded 50 property transfers, including 23 valid residential sales, 10 were condos, 7 were land only, with the rest being transfers between family members, transfers into trusts, or sales to abutters.  Of our primary residences (non-condo) prices ranged from $168,500 to $2,100,000, with a median price of $360,000.  There were 7 sales under $300,000, 8 sales between $300,000 and $500,000, 4 sales between $500,000 and $1,000,000 and 4 sales over $1,000,000.  The average price of primary residences was $563,860.  The 10 condos ranged in price from $85,500 to $320,000, with a median price of $143,000 and the average price was $174,250.  During the calendar year, January through December 2011, there were 67 total sales, of which 34 were primary residences, with prices ranging from $132,000 to $3,620,000.  The median price for the calendar year was $376,260, with the average price of $624,614, and total sales of $21,236,883. Our CLA (Common Level of Appraisal - based on a three year study of our sales) will be increasing from 94.19% to 96.54% which means that sales have remained relatively stable, inching closer to full market value and not indicating an immediate need for reappraisal.  In Woodstock the Current Use Program has 180 parcels and over 17,005 acres enrolled for an exempt value of $71,138,087.  We also keep track of 90 or so active building permits, 35 of which were issued in 2011.  Each year we visit all properties with permits to make sure that our information on the Grand List reflects any changes to the property. In July we completed updating all town addresses to conform to the new e911 addresses.  We delayed our routine fall site visits for permits because of road and bridge conditions due to Tropical Storm Irene.  We did, however, visit those properties with substantial destruction that we were made aware of.  We worked with the Board of Tax Abatement, our District Advisor, and our local legislator to examine the various ramifications of the abatement process.  The Commissioner of Taxes instructed the Legislature to draft a bill that would enable the state education portion of taxes to also be abated for properties with damage greater than 50% and loss of use for more than 90 days and to not have those taxes be made up by other property owners in the town.  At this writing, that bill is still before the Legislature.  There are very strict criteria for qualifying for abatement of both municipal and education taxes.  To date, we have assisted owners of 12 properties through the abatement process.  We are aware of other properties that are starting the abatement process.   This has been a time consuming process for the Board of Listers. As usual, we continue to take advantage of educational programs offered by Property Valuation and Review and NEMRC.  We have attended classes on Ratio Studies so we can better understand our sales and the sales study that is the basis for the CLA.  We attend bi-monthly VALA (Vermont Association of Listers and Assessors) meetings to exchange the latest information available to members of VALA. Please feel free to call, visit or e-Please feel free to call, visit or e-mail us at (Woodstocklisters@townofwoodstock.org) with your questions or concerns. Our office hours are 8:00 am until noon, Monday through Friday. Respectfully submitted, Paul Wildasin, Carol Wood & Charlie Degener