Taxation – Real estate

Listen to this article

Where the owners of real estate located at 52 Sunset Road in Duxbury have challenged the valuation of their property for fiscal year 2024, they introduced insufficient credible evidence to show that the overall assessment of the subject property exceeded its fair cash value as of the relevant assessment date.

Affirmed.

“This is an appeal filed under the formal procedure pursuant to G.L.c. 58A, §7 and G.L.c. 59, §§64 and 65 from the refusal of the Board of Assessors of the Town of Duxbury (‘appellee’ or ‘assessors’) to abate a real estate tax assessed against Charles and Lisa Grace (‘appellants’) for fiscal year 2024 (‘fiscal year at issue’). …

“The subject property is located in Duxbury’s ‘Neighborhood 9’ and is improved with a single-family, Colonial-style home, built in 1930 with an effective year built of 2003 (‘subject home’). …

“The subject property enjoys views of the Blue Fish River. The original property record card for the fiscal year at issue rated the subject property’s view as ‘V200.’ After the appellants filed their abatement application, the assessors adjusted the view factor to ‘V175,’ resulting in the subject property’s land valuation being reduced by $320,900, from $2,567,600 to $2,246,700.

“The appellants argued that the subject property as abated was overvalued for the fiscal year at issue, claiming they have been aggrieved by an approximately 85-percent increase in assessed value over the last four fiscal years, yet they had not made any improvements to the subject property since their purchase in 2015 aside from replacing the subject home’s roof.

“While they acknowledged that the view of the Blue Fish River marsh was a factor contributing to the subject property’s value, the appellants claimed that the subject property’s views have been significantly impacted by the recent construction of a pool house on the abutting parcel to the north as well as a new home to the west. The appellants provided photographs depicting the neighboring pool house and neighboring home to demonstrate the subject property’s views. Mr. Grace testified that the picture showing the view of the neighboring pool house was taken from the subject property’s driveway.

“The appellants contended that several properties in Duxbury had better marsh views and yet those comparison properties’ assessed land values were less than that of the subject property. The appellants presented an analysis comparing the subject property’s land-assessment value to those of other properties in different neighborhoods that the appellants claimed to be of equal or better stature than the subject property’s neighborhood. Maintaining that their selected properties had lower view factors yet better marsh views than the subject property, the appellants claimed that the subject property’s view factor of ‘V175’ should be further reduced.

“Based on their analysis, the appellants concluded that the subject property was overvalued because the land portion of the assessment was excessive. The appellants opined that the appropriate assessed value of the subject property’s land was $1,530,000, which would reduce the subject property’s total assessed value to $2,600,000 for the fiscal year at issue. …

“First, the appellants’ claim that the assessed value of the subject property increased by a purportedly inappropriate percentage did nothing to demonstrate that the assessed value for the subject property exceeded its fair cash value. The Board has repeatedly found that percentage increases in assessed values from one year to the next are not, standing alone, persuasive indicators of a property’s fair cash value. …

“The appellants presented a comparable-assessment analysis focusing only on the assessed land value of the purportedly comparable properties within ‘Neighborhood 9’ as well as other neighborhoods and with varying grades of marsh views. The fair cash value of property may be determined by evidence of assessed values of comparable properties. … However, the appellants’ singular focus on the land component of the subject property was unpersuasive, because taxpayers do not conclusively establish a right to an abatement merely by showing that their land is overvalued. …

“Although the appellants introduced evidence challenging the value of the land component of the subject assessment, they introduced insufficient credible evidence to show that the overall assessment of the subject property exceeded its fair cash value as of the relevant assessment date. The appellants offered no evidence of comparable sales in their entirety and only limited data as to elements of their comparable assessments to substantiate their claim of overvaluation for the subject property. Their evidence, which focused solely on assessed land values and did not at all address the improvements made to the subject property, failed to draw a sufficient comparison between their comparison properties and the subject property to support the appellants’ claim of over assessment for the subject property as a whole. …

“Based on the evidence presented, the Board found and ruled that the appellants did not meet their burden of proving that the subject property’s overall assessment was excessive. On this basis, the Board issued a decision for the appellee in this appeal.”

Grace, et al. v. Board of Assessors of the Town of Duxbury (Lawyers Weekly No. 20-013-26) (10 pages) (Commissioner Elliott heard the appeal and was joined in the decision by Chairman DeFrancisco and Commissioners Good, Metzer and Bernier) (Docket No. F351583) (March 25, 2026).

Click here to read the full text of the opinion.