MS-1 Update
This update includes the DRA's most recent changes to the format of the MS-1 report. This year, the changes are nominal, limited to a few minor format changes and an updated DRA phone number. There are no new exemption categories or any changes to the calculations involved in preparing the MS-1.

Validation of Zone Descriptions on Some Parcels
This update includes additional validation to identify and correct a specific issue we've seen in a few databases recently. The issue arises from a conflict that can occur between the zone describing an entire parcel and the zone describing individual land lines on that parcel. Normally, these should always agree, with the zone selected for each parcel propagating down to all of the individual land lines on that parcel. However, we have found several instances in which a parcel's zone was modified and the modification did not propagate to the land lines. Ordinarily, this, in and of itself, would not affect the land pricing of the parcel. However, when you perform a system wide recalculation, the system, for the sake of efficiency, uses the zone associated with each land line to re-price each land line record. Thus, when the zone on an individual land line is not consistent with the overall parcel zone, you can encounter situations where a parcel's land value alternates between two different values, depending on whether its value was last determined by a recalculation or an individual parcel edit.

If none of that made sense to you, don't worry about it -- it's not important that you be familiar with the inner workings of the system itself. Just know that when you generate your MS-1 report this year, if this issue affects any parcels in your database, you will see a new message like the following:

You have parcels on which the zone on one or more individual land lines does not match the zone defined for the parcel itself. This can result in incorrect land values for both the tax bills and the MS-1.

You can continue with generating the MS-1 Report but you are STRONGLY ADVISED to investigate and resolve these issues before either generating the MS-1 or generating tax bills.

If you choose to investigate the issues the system will identify the parcels affected for you. For assistance resolving any discrepancies call Avitar.

Additionally, we have added additional validation to prevent this scenario from occurring in the future.

Warrant Commitment Deposit Amount
Many of you choose to include the optional signature page when printing the Tax Totals report. The signature page provides a commitment report that can be signed by the Selectmen. This report has always included language directing the tax collector to deposit money when ever total receipts exceed five hundred dollars. Recently the DRA changed the deposit amount to one thousand five hundred dollars. This is the new default amount. However, it can be changed prior to printing the signature page if your municipality uses a different amount.

Display of Exemptions Prior To Log In
Many of you provide public access terminals which members of the public can use to view and/or print assessment records when visiting the town office. It was brought to our attention that some of the information displayed on the Exemptions tab, particularly related to elderly exemptions and birth dates is not intended to be publicly available. As such, we have modified the display so that information is not displayed on the Exemptions tab unless you are logged in to the system, thus preventing users at public access terminals from viewing this information.

Features Grid Display Options
Several years ago we added the ability to place an optional note on each feature record. The note value was displayed in the Edit Features dialog box but was only viewable on the system's main screen as a tool tip if you hovered the cursor over an individual feature record. With this update we have modified the Features tab with several view option icons, similar to the Land tab, whereby you can select which columns are visible by default. The left arrow icon displays the traditional columns. The right arrow icon includes the Notes column but hides the Size Adjustment and Rate columns. The middle icon displays all columns. Depending on the resolution of your screen and the size of the main screen, you may need to scroll right or left when all columns are displayed.

Supplemental Warrant Changes
The supplemental warrant includes the same changes made to the property tax signature page directing the tax collector to deposit funds when ever receipts exceed one thousand five hundred dollars. Additionally, the Reason field is now included for all types of supplements.

Old/New Value Report Sort Options
We have added sort options to the Old/New Value Report (Reports | Values | Value Ratio Old/New) that now allow you to sort the report by Ratio, Owner Name, or PID. Previously the report was always sorted by Ratio.

Parcel Count Report
The Parcel Count report now includes an additional line indicating the median value for the Residential Land and Building category as this information is often requested by the DRA and other state agencies.