By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO – The owner of the firm hired to oversee the property revaluation process reported that 85 percent of the properties in Casco have been assessed.

In the coming months, the assessors will try to arrange interior visits to the homes – to get a more accurate picture of the market value.

Unfortunately, this generation’s families are so busy those homeowners are seldom home, according to Robert A. Konczal.

“Now, the goal is to get inside as many homes as possible,” he said.

“But, I tell you what: People just aren’t home anymore. Even the kids get jobs,” he said.

Konczal, a certified Maine assessor who owns his firm, is the ‘second set of eyes’ hired by the Casco Board of Selectmen to oversee the property revaluation job being done by winning bidder Vision Government Solutions.

Selectman Grant Plummer asked what the pros and cons were if residents allowed or did not allow assessing team into homes.

“Them getting inside? Is that a critical piece? Is it necessary for the homeowner? Is it beneficial to the homeowner?” Plummer asked.

Konczal said that it is hard for busy people to arrange for someone to walk through their house. It is not legally necessary to open the doors to one’s home to the assessors; and people in that field often can figure fair market value without a walk-through.

It is better to get it right the first time, Konczal answered.

So, if the property owner can coordinate with Vision’s employees, they can assist with a more accurate assessment of the home’s current market value.

The revaluation process provides homeowners with public hearings to preview town-wide valuations, and an appeals process for people who disagree with the market value placed on their home and/or property, Konczal said.

“There will be an informal hearing so homeowners can double-check the information” and ask questions, he said.

According to Konczal, just like paying taxes and going to the dentist, property revaluations are not a well-loved process for the public.

“It is not like one kid going to the dentist, it is like all the kids in town going to the dentist,” Konczal said.

“It is not a pleasant thing. It takes a fair amount of time,” he said, later outlining the computer data that must be entered and interpreted by Vision.

“Unfortunately, in any revaluation process, anywhere in the nation, some people’s taxes will go up a bit. But, some people’s taxes will go down.”