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ASSESSOR'S OFFICE

The Assessor’s Office is responsible for uniformly and accurately valuing all property both real and personal located within the Town. The valuation date is January 1. The values generated by the Assessors are reviewed and certified triennially by the Department of Revenue. The next certification of the approximately 12,000 parcels of real estate and 1,300 accounts of personal property will occur in FY 2008.

Every three years the Assessor must submit these values to the state Department of Revenue for certification.  Assessors must also maintain the values in the years between certifications.  This is done so that each property taxpayer in the community pays his or her fair share of the cost of local government--no more or less--in proportion to the amount of money the property is worth.

The Assessor's role has a major role in promoting effective financial management in the community.  By keeping values at the market standard, the Assessor assists in maximizing the resources available to fund the municipal services expected by residents.  Property taxes are one of the major sources of funding for the community services enjoyed by the taxpayers -- schools for their children, police and fire protection, and the upkeep of municipal roads.

Valuation in Massachusetts is based on "full and fair cash value", the amount a willing buyer would pay a willing seller on the open market.  The Assessor must collect, record, and analyze a great deal of information about property and market characteristics in order to estimate the fair market value of all taxable properties in the community.

The Assessor first inspects each property to record specific features of the land and building(s) that contribute to its value.  Size, type, and quality of construction, number of rooms, baths, fireplaces, type of heating system -- all are examples of the data listed on individual property record cards before the valuation process can begin.  Assessors may not have to go inside each property before every revaluation if records are kept up to date and building permits are checked and recorded for changes in individual properties.

Finding the "full and fair cash value" or "market value" of a property involves discovering what similar properties are selling for, what the property would cost today to replace and what financial factors, such as interest rates, may be affecting the real estate market.  Valuation techniques for commercial industrial properties also include analysis from an investment point of view, since the purchase price the buyer is willing to pay depends in part on the return he expects to receive.

The Assessor does not create value.  Rather, the Assessor has the legal responsibility to discover and reflect the changes that are occurring in the marketplace.

The Assessor does not make the laws that affect property owners.  Tax laws are enacted by the Massachusetts Legislature.  Various guidelines and regulations to implement the legislation are established by the Department of Revenue.  The Assessor, in short, follows the procedures established by others to set the value of property.  Value is actually set by buyers and sellers as they establish the worth of comparable properties through their transactions in the real estate marketplace.

The Assessor, also, does not determine taxes.  The level of property taxation is determined by the Town itself, through the Town Council.  Similarly, the Assessor doesn't decide who is entitled to relief on their property tax bills through exemptions; rather she follows the state law.

To contact the Assessor’s on-line, e-mail us at assessor@agawam.ma.us. To view our data base which contains the owner of record as of January 1 of the fiscal year, value of a property, and last sale date, please see the Assessor’s on-line property database.