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They won’t hire their relatives. They won’t appeal their own tax assessments. And they don’t need any extra help to get the job done, thank you.
That was the word from Jeffrey Granoff (pictured) and Chris Mordecai, two members of a newly revamped Board of Assessment Appeals.
Along with Kenneth Janke, they’ve been tapped to right an appeals board upended by recent scandals. The board is charged with assisting taxpayers who believe the city has overtaxed them.
In an interview at Cafe Romeo, where Mordecai is an owner, the two pledged reforms like posting meeting agendas and minutes and creating greater transparency of the board’s procedures. They also promised not to hire family members or appeal taxes on their own property, both of which happened under the watch of recently departed appeals board members Jacqueline Harris and Michael Newton.
But Granoff stopped short of endorsing further reforms suggested by aldermen. Hill Alderwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks has proposed increasing the size of the board and requiring aldermanic approval of appointees. Members are currently named by the mayor, without ratification by the Board of Alderman.
Granoff said the board is big enough as it is, and aldermanic approval of appointees is unnecessary.
Granoff, a former chair of the appeals board, said the panel has handled up to 1,800 appeals in a single tax season, without any complaints about the process. Recently departed appeals board chair Newton said the committee handled about 700 appeals this year.
In their move to reform the tax appeals board, Granoff and his co-members are headed into a storm of controversy stirred by allegations of dereliction of duty at the board. The panel has been charged with meeting out of the public eye and not keeping proper records. Taxpayers who have dealt with the board report a variety of problems, including being told their appeals were granted and then receiving letters stating the opposite. (The appeals board shenanigans were first reported in a New Haven Advocate article by Betsy Yagla.)
The appeals board problems are compounded by complaints about the tax assessor’s office, which taxpayers say has arbitrarily raised property valuations this year, in some cases by thousands of dollars. Accusations of rudeness and incompetence at the assessor’s office have also flown.
The clearinghouse for these complaints has been the Board of Aldermen’s Tax Abatement Committee. The formerly quiet committee has been holding a series of closely watched and well attended public hearings to investigate complaints about the appeals board and the assessor’s office. It was at those hearings that allegations of appeals board nepotism, conflicts of interest, and possible no-show work arose, which led to the resignation of the board’s last remaining member — and the appointment of Granoff, Mordecai, and Janke.
Granoff and Mordecai shared their backgrounds and their visions for the overhauled appeals board while sitting outside at Cafe Romeo on Friday morning. They said, the new appeals board will be an ethical and transparent body dedicated to helping applicants to understand and navigate the appeals process.
Mordecai (pictured), a 37-year-old native of Hamden, has lived in East Rock for six years. In addition to being an owner of Cafe Romeo, Mordecai works in real estate. He’s been a licensed realtor for three years.
Granoff, a voluble 58-year-old realtor, was born and raised in New Haven and has over 30 years of experience selling homes. He was a founding science and math teacher at the Sound School at City Point, where he taught for 15 years. Granoff said he’s a lifelong educator, a concern that he plans to bring back to the appeals board.
“We’d like to educate the public on the process,” he said. The role of the appeals board is to help taxpayers find their way through the system. “It’s a citizens advocacy board.”
“We also want to provide more clarity,” Granoff said.
“Eliminate any controversy,” offered Mordecai.
That means, in part, having good records and making them available to all who ask for them, Granoff said. To that end, he’s bringing back Sarah McIver as support staff. She previously served as the board’s secretary.
“It’s just a matter of printing out the information and doing what the law says. It’s a real simple process,” Granoff said.
That “simple process” wasn’t apparently so straightforward for the recently departed appeals board members and staff. Aldermen have been unable to obtain clear records on how many appeals were heard and what the outcomes were. That’s despite the fact that two secretaries were working for the board. Both lived together. One was the son of board member Harris.
Granoff said the board doesn’t need two staffers. “One should be enough at this.”
Both Granoff and Mordecai pledged to follow strict ethical guidelines in their work on the board.
Granoff said he will never appeal taxes on any of his property while he’s on the board. Mordecai agreed. “I would pass on my opportunity to appeal.”
Asked about the hiring of family members as board staff, Granoff said that will also never happen. “I as chairman would not allow anything like that to happen.”
Granoff said he sees his role as that of a leader and educator who can train the public and train new board members on staff on proper appeals board procedures. After that, he said, he wants off the board. “I want to get out.” He said he’d serve through next summer and then likely resign.
“I’m in for a little more long term, at least for one full term, possibly longer,” Mordecai said. He mentioned aspirations for a spot a ward Democratic committee co-chair or even on the Board of Alderman.
Granoff said it’s important that the appeals board has members with overlapping terms, so that old hands can train new recruits. A lack of that overlap may have contributed to the recent problems at the appeals board, he speculated.
During a revaluation year when he was on the board, Granoff said, he and his colleagues handled 1,800 appeals. Some of the board’s decisions were appealed to Superior Court, but there were no complaints about the process itself. People were angry about decisions that the board made, but not about the way they were treated, he said.
Having handled such a large volume of appeals, Granoff said the board doesn’t need to be expanded, as Alderwoman Jackson-Brooks has proposed. If more members are needed, the mayor can appoint them temporarily, Granoff said.
As for the alderwoman’s proposal that aldermen sign off on mayoral appointees to the board, Granoff said that was also unnecessary. Superior Court acts as a check to the appeals board, he said. Aldermen can also oversee the appeals board through their annual review of its budget and through questions at any time. “I would welcome that,” Granoff said.
Granoff said he’s looking forward to his work on the board. “It’s fun. I’m hoping to have a good time. I like interacting with people.”
“We have the opportunity to really make something good,” Mordecai said.
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Michael Smart, who heads the aldermanic committee that brought the appeals board scandal to light, applauded Granoff’s appointment.
He said he’d like to see three other changes: Having a BAA member with real estate law experience. Expansion of the size of the board. And a requirement that it report to Smart’s committee several times a year.
Such periodic check-ins would have enabled the committee to head off the current problems before they got so severe, Smart suggested.
Allan Appel contributed reporting to this story.
Not so fast Granoff...
The appeals board is not as simple as your report it to above..you said...
"It's just a matter of printing out the information and doing what the law says. It's a real simple process," Granoff said.
According to the 10/11 goals/ initiatives
listed in the budget for the assessors office (pg 2-78) one of the twelve goals is as follows:
"State mandated city wide revaluation is to commence in early 2010 for the October 1, 2011 effective grand list. In addition to routine duties, successful revaluation includes preparation of statistical data; gathering and analysis of sales and transfer information; distribution,returns, and analysis of property income and expense statements; compilation and application of performance-based and ratio-based assessment testing standards; development of valuation methodology, regression model tables and bases; and various other statutory and associates duties".
Therefore Granoff, unless O'Brien is just blowing smoke with these extensive requirements/goals, in order for you to properly assess the performance and accuracy, of Visions and the assessor's property valuation suggest even to the novice property owner that you and your new crew have some extensive training, evaluation, analysis and proofing to do in order to convince a skeptical taxpayer that the current appraisals in this current market are reflective of true values.
So to say that "this task will be simple" and you "do not need more staff",... in spite of the assessor's and finance department saying otherwise... strongly suggest you are off to a very poor start.
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