Wolfeboro tax dispute adjudicated

[fatlazyless]

Over on Wolfeboro's Lake Wentworth, a NH Court just agreed with the town when it raised a Lake Wentworth house & attached barn w/ 93 acres & 1100' wf's property tax from $2000/year to $37,000/year starting in 2006 when the zoning classification was changed from shorefront residential to waterfront estate. :D Feb 12www.citizen.com ouch!

Bet they never knew they were liv'n on a estate! Probably, they want to upgrade to some fancier dinnerware!:D

Could be a 175 year old New Englander old white clapboard farmhouse or something on what was once a real live dairy farm?
.....

"Hey Jethro....looky here....looky here what the mail delivery lady just done give me from the dang town .....well golleeeee....how's about this tax bill Jethro.....can you's believe it?:rolleye1:"

[Merrymeeting]

FLL,

I can see it now. Several years from now you will be bemoaning the 11 great McMansions that have been built on this 1,100 feet of frontage because the original landowner can no longer afford the tax bill.

This is what drives all that land down the McMansion road.

[RailroadJoe]

I think the fault lies with the court system as it lately does. Seems they want to get more lawyers involved. And you are right, sell it and let the condos come in with 50 slips and more.

[fatlazyless]

Probably, a big reason that Belknap County has the state's second highest unemployment rate of 7.5% for December 2009 is due to the construction slowdown. The vacation home business of building and remodelling is probably a big piece of the lakes region economy. Just witness the ad earlier this week in craigslist for a single Laconia/Belmont carpenter/laborer wanted for a temporary project job at $12-15/hour cash which got 53 different replies before the ad was deleted.

Watch what happens to the 8-acre, 800-waterfront feet, Meredith Bay 'Great Stone & Iron Fence' property, trumpeted as the single most expensive Winnipesaukee residential property ever which sold in December or January for 8-million dollars. Could be it will be subdivided into 8 seperate one acre lots with 100-feet each as it might be symetrical enough and maybe get approved by the town? Will the town approve that? Does it get dark at night? It seems like it's a natural to become a gated community since it already has a fence-to-remember, totally surrounding all three sides. The fence even has a special little entrance designed for chipmonks & squirrels & wild turkeys & minks.....no fool'n!

It's no secret that the vacation home biz is a big business in the lakes region. Boston is crammed full of folks driving some very expensive cars, all bumper to bumper, just two hours away. Nothing like the cars the local NH folks drive....we all bump along, over the frost heaves, nursing our aging Fords....when some Massachusetts yahoo roars past, on up the bumpy hill in a shiney Toyota FJ or something....& hopefully their accelerator pedal will not get stuck...

[fatlazyless]

Today's Feb 16 www.citizen.com explains 'the rest of the story' on how this Wolfeboro-Lake Wentworth-92 acre-1100 wf' property saw its' prop tax go from from $1,987 to 37,651 in 2006.

It is called "in current use." About 91 1/2 of the 92 acres had been classified for tax purposes 'in current use' since 1980.

In January 2006, the property was sold for $4,600,000 while it had been assessed at a value of $362,151 as a result of its' current use classification. The entire 1100' waterfront and about 91 out of 92 acres was in current use.

For a property to be classified in current use, it must be at least ten acres by NH state statute.

I'm not too certain about this but I assume by Wolfeboro's reclassifying from shorefront residential to waterfront estate, it was no longer eligable to be current use.

Question: While the advantages of current use for the property owner are obvious, what is the advantage of current use for the local town? Just wondering what was the reasoning for the state legislature to create current use in the 1970's. How does the local town benefit from property held in current use?

It seems like a terrific way for someone to own a home assessed at the regular rates and to be surrounded by a large tract of land that is dramatically under-assessed and therefore under-taxed.

[jmen24]

Don't quote me on this, but I believe if your property is in current use it has to remain open and available to the general public for recreation, only. I thought that it goes hand in hand with NH's open land policy, it would be to preserve that.

The thing is the town will eventually get their money and at 10% CU penalty paid to the town, that can add up to some serious dollars of unexpected revenue.

[Eagle]

Current use land can be posted against public access. The only thing current use prohibits is anything being built on the land.

Towns benefit only if the property is taken out of current use since they get a part of the sale price as a penalty.

Towns also benefit from not having the property developed and filled full of houses with kids.

[Heaven]

Towns also benefit from not having the property developed and filled full of houses with kids.

Tell Sandwich that.