The battle over property revaluations continues in South Kingstown with hundreds of people in a single community submitting appeals, but the NBC 10 I-Team discovered a majority of those appeals are being rejected.
Several cottage owners at Roy Carpenter's Beach say their values have more than doubled, echoing the complaints of mobile-home owners the I-Team spoke to at Mary Carpenter’s Beach over the summer.
In some cases, values in both communities have jumped more than 100% higher than the town's median increase of 25%, forcing residents like Erin Guilmette to make a difficult decision.
“Do I keep this house, or do I let it go? The cost of living has gone up, but the house hasn’t changed. It’s still the same house,” she said.
The one bedroom, plug-in toilet cottage Guilmette inherited from her uncle after he passed away has now jumped in value from $30,000 to $80,000.
“The value of it is having it for the family,” she said. “It’s the most precious thing to see that someone left that to me for my family. I just hope we can hang onto it. I really do.”
Guilmette isn’t alone.
Right down the street at Roy Carpenter’s, the value of Paul Ainsworth’s cottage soared over 150% this year.
“It was a shock,” he said. “I’ve been here in that house since 1995. Typically, the value would go up about 10% to 15%.”
TAX TROUBLES
Property revaluations in Rhode Island are conducted every three years to make sure everyone pays their fair share.
Higher values can lead to higher property taxes, but under state law, municipalities are legally required to lower tax rates to account for increases in property values.
This year, South Kingstown cut tax rates more than they legally had to by adjusting the proposed rate from $11.02 per thousand to $10.95 per thousand.
While that’s a decline from the $14.45 per thousand rate from fiscal year 2022, it hasn’t been enough to prevent sharp property tax increases for some homeowners.
Ainsworth and Guilmette have both seen their taxes jump, sparking concerns their insurance will follow the same pattern.
“It’s kind of like a domino effect that ends up happening,” Guilmette said. “You will have your insurance go up, and everything starts to go up.”
Unlike other parts of South Kingstown, residents at Roy Carpenter’s Beach don’t always directly benefit from the additional tax revenue.
While the cottage owners pay taxes, they’re only allowed to live there for part of the year, prohibiting them from using town services like the public schools, certain utilities and the Department of Public Works.
“We don’t have town toilets, we don’t have town water, it’s all separate houses, and the town does nothing for us,” Ainsworth said. “There are 375 houses on the property. I think we’ve had 160 just with our group that are appealing it.”
APPEALS STRUCK DOWN
The recently filed appeals won’t be decided on until 2023, but data shows South Kingstown has rejected more appeals than any other community in Rhode Island following the 2021 reassessment.
The town has rejected 63 of the 68 appeals they've made decisions on.
In comparison, Westerly has denied 12 or 32 appeals, Smithfield has denied two of 12, and Burrillville has denied two of 28.
Ainsworth worries all of those denials will force people out of the community.
“They won’t be able to afford it,” he said.
TOWN RESPONSE
When contacted for a response, the town’s tax assessor initially agreed to an interview, then canceled it citing "advice from the town solicitor due to the potential of future litigation."
South Kingstown Town Manager James Manni has also declined to comment citing potential legal action.
Property revaluation appeals can end in the courtroom.
Once reassessments are handed out, residents have 90 days to appeal to the tax assessor.
If they don’t agree with the tax assessor’s decision, they can appeal to the Board of Review, which is a group of people appointed by the Town Council.
If the Board of Review denies the appeal again, the resident can sue the town’s tax assessor in Superior Court.
Ainsworth just wants the town to consider the unique situation of Roy Carpenter’s Beach, a summer community that pays taxes, but doesn’t always reap the benefits.
“Just be reasonable,” he said. “We are not taking anything from the town, the taxes that we pay all go to the town.”
APPEAL DATA AS OF 10/31/2022
South Kingstown:
Approved: 5
Denied: 63
Pending: 137
Smithfield:
Approved: 10
Denied: 2
Pending: 1
Burrillville:
Approved: 26
Denied: 2
Pending: 8
Scituate:
Approved: 10
Denied: 1
Pending: 4
Bristol:
Approved: 7
Denied: 21
Pending: 6
Jamestown:
Approved: 17
Denied: 10
Pending: 5
Providence:
Approved: 179
Denied: 193
Pending: 264