Residents turn out in force against reval

There are too many flagrant inconsistencies in this reval. As stated in the article, "...the 32 commercial sales that Walker cited in her data went up 52 percent but the other 650 commercial properties’ value were only raised 32 percent." Ms Walker stated that this was due to a "complex process" that would be difficult to explain. Most reasonable people would assume that the data was "cherry-picked" so that the gross inequity would be masked. There have been many similar valid questions asked about such inconsistencies. All have gone unanswered with nothing more than hand-waving, shoulder-shrugs, and pompous "too hard for you to understand" replies.

I graduated Kennett High School in 2007, just before the housing market crash in 2008. Speaking for myself; I made the decision to pursue my education and homeownership opportunity somewhere else, with the intention of returning at a better time where I could reasonably be in the area without a financial disparage adversely affecting a functioning household, If you want to see growth in town revenue; a reval shift in boom market doesn't have to punch long-term residents in the gut or force anyone to seek relief through an assistance program, [Which is in no way a positive indication for community growth]; or force anyone to sell for that matter. If the reval was done for the sake of a market boom then rest the tax burden at the new buyer's feet and scale the taxes to be reduced by years of homeownership to a baseline that's consistently predictable no matter when the shift from commercial to residential is done. It may be tough for a first-time home buyer to shoulder that but if they want to be in the area in whatever manner, I think will buy into it regardless. Its really all about incentive across the board.

Ms. Walker,

Go back to where you came from and residential property should never be assessed at market value, no one else does this and your comment about who can pay or not pay at best is condescending. Lastly, all the new commercial construction and new taxes have increased what services?

Conway and the surrounding towns should look to places that have been inundated with second home owners and see what tools other communities use to balance the tax burden. In my town on Martha's Vineyard we looked at vail, aspen and breckenridge for ideas on taxes and affordable housing- both of which are massive problems. Some towns adopted a 2-tier tax system with a year-round versus seasonal/ second home tax rate and it has gone over pretty well. Vermont has a much higher rate for out-of-state homeowners. The sad reality is while the influx of second homes offers some serious financial benefits to many communities it also brings a lot of stress and challenges to them at the same time. Its time for the towns and their leaders to get proactive and think about the next 10-30 years and what you as a community need to do to protect the citizens that live here and provide some way to manage the change in a positive way.