Williston
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Permit #15 Williston,VT 05495 POSTAL CUSTOMER
DECEMBER 14, 2023
Townwide property reappraisal postponed
Real estate values have climbed well above what the Town of Williston is assessing property at for taxing purposes. That’s why Williston was among the majority of Vermont municipalities due for a townwide reappraisal in 2024. Last done in 2016, a reappraisal would have affected the tax liability for nearly every property owner in town. But legislation passed earlier this year repealed the previous trigger point for reappraisals. The state used to mandate reappraisals when the assessed value of property in a town fell below 85 percent of the market value. With the new law, reappraisals will be triggered by a term of art in the property assessment profession called the coefficient of dispersion.
‘Kind of a free-for-all’ WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
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“I do not foresee us reappraising any earlier than 2027.” Bill Hinman Williston assessor
The coefficient of dispersion (COD) is a measure of how uniform the difference between assessed and market values are among neighbors. “It gives us our best glance at what we are doing in town as far as equitably assessing properties,” Williston Assessor Bill Hinman said. “The goal is that everybody pays taxes based on what they own.” Under the new law, when a town’s COD climbs above 20 percent, a reappraisal will be ordered. Williston’s COD currently sits at 12 percent, according to Hinman. Given that difference, he expects the state won’t be requiring a Williston reappraisal for several years. “I do not foresee us reappraising any earlier than 2027,” Hinman said. When a reappraisal is mandated, the new law puts the state’s Department of Taxes in charge of undertaking the task. In the past, municipalities hired contractors to do the job. This Friday, Jill Remick, the state director of property valuation and review, is required by the law to submit a reappraisal schedule for every Vermont municipality. “We’ll have to wait and see what the state’s priorities are,” Hinman said. “The larger suburban communities like we have in Chittenden County will probably be (reappraised) later, rather than earlier.” — Jason Starr
Walmart employees recently requested a more visible presence from Williston police officers in their Taft Corners store during the holiday season. OBSERVER PHOTO BY JASON STARR
Police try to coordinate with retailers to stanch shoplifting spree BY JASON STARR Observer staff Cristalee McSweeney describes a scene during a recent shopping trip to Marshalls in Taft Corners when she witnessed a group of people take suitcases that are for sale in the store and tote them around filling them with merchandise. She alerted a store employee to the apparent larceny and was told store policy prevents them from intervening, or even calling police. McSweeney then saw the thieves walk out the door with the merchandise. “Not a care in the world,” she recalled of their demeanor. As executive director of the Williston Community Justice Center, where retail theft cases are often adjudicated, McSweeney is more aware than most of the spike in retail theft in Taft Corners — a regional retail hub with multiple national chain stores. “This is happening on a daily basis, several times a day,” she said.
The assumption in law enforcement is that people stealing from Williston’s stores are feeding a drug addiction. But there is a criminal organization to it that reaches beyond local addicts, according to Jim Baker, a town-hired consultant who recently released a report about policing in Williston. “The folks that we’re catching are not the organization,” Baker said while delivering the report to the selectboard Dec. 5. “There is someone behind that, and there’s a level of organization that is not getting addressed now because agencies in the county are shorthanded,” Williston Police Chief Patrick Foley is hoping to fill a long-vacant detective position in the department, but says his first priority is to fully staff patrols. A detective would give the department a chance to disrupt the organized element of the theft-drug trade. “They’ve been told, ‘if you want drugs. I need you to go get this item.’ And they tell them exactly what they want,” Foley
said. “Those are the people we want to go after … That’s the value of having a detective who could follow these people around, do surveillance and find out who they are bringing the stuff to. That’s what you need to do. “These are career people who deal in stolen goods,” he added. “They are not novice. They’re career criminals.” McSweeney has gained some insights from her interactions with shoplifters who do get caught and come through the Community Justice Center. While some of the stolen goods are sold locally through online platforms, much of the merchandise is being transported to larger cities out of state, she has been told. “People are handing the goods over to organizers coming from the inner cities,” McSweeney said. “It’s not being organized in Vermont. It’s coming from Springfield, Boston, Brockton, New York City, Montreal … That’s what I think. I can only go by what my clients share see THEFT page 10