THE THREE MEMBERS of the Milton Board of Assessors said on Tuesday that they will review and probably reassess state Sen. Brian Joyce’s home, but they indicated the lawmaker had done nothing wrong.
The hearing was held in the wake of a Boston Globe story last week that charged that Joyce’s home was vastly undervalued because of upgrades he did without the required permits. The Globe’s analysis was based on a realtor’s listing that showed the house having more living space, bedrooms, and bathrooms than listed in town records. The story quoted anonymous town officials as saying the $11,000 tax bill Joyce and his wife paid should have been closer to $27,000, a hike that would have brought the home’s value to nearly $2 million
James Henderson, the vice chairman of the board, lambasted the Globe for “singling [Joyce and his family] out for undue scrutiny.”
“If the reporter had contacted the assessor’s office, it is my belief the article would have been very different, if it was written at all,” Henderson read from a written statement. “I doubt any taxpayer in Milton would want to go through what this taxpayer is going through. It’s just not fair.”
Another member of the board, William Bennett, who was quoted in the Globe story as expressing concern about the home’s value, continued to press to have the home reassessed because of information in the realtor’s listing. Bennett said during the meeting that some of the renovations listed by the realtor could have been performed under prior permits. Henderson and the town’s chief assessor Robert Bushway said that if the house was not accurately valued, it was not because of anything Joyce did.
After the meeting, Bennett insisted his push for reassessing the house was based on his 32 years experience as an appraiser in the banking industry and had nothing to do with politics. Bennett is a member of Milton’s Republican Town Committee and Joyce is a Democrat.
“I was simply asked as an assessor and an appraiser to give my opinion,” he said.
Michael Joyce, the senator’s son, spoke at the Board of Assessors meeting and later at a meeting of the Board of Selectmen. He said he was appearing on behalf of his parents because they were dealing with a family medical emergency. Joyce offered a file of documents indicating all the work on the house had been documented by permits on file at Town Hall.
Michael Joyce said one of the discrepancies the Globe cited – that the realtor indicated the house had six bedrooms while town records said there were only five – was nothing more than the family using a “sewing room,” listed on records since 1923, as a bedroom for his younger brother Jimmy.
Bennett and Bushway said the number of bedrooms in a realtor’s listing is irrelevant. “What we might call a bedroom, someone else might call it a den,” said Bushway.
Michael Joyce also called the story part of a long line of “character assassination” by the Globe against his father. Sen. Joyce is reportedly under investigation by federal officials for mixing his law firm business with his official duties and has been admonished by the Office of Campaign and Political Finance for issues with his campaign account and has been the subject of inquiries by the state Ethics Commission, though never found in violation of the state ethics laws.
The three members of the assessors board seemed to agree there was nothing to show that Joyce intentionally misled town officials about his home value or performed work without telling anyone.
Henderson said the reassessment likely will produce a small bump up in the assessed value of the home, hiking the tax bill by a small amount. To suggest the home’s value is $2 million is “ludicrous,” Henderson said. He said after the meeting that the Globe story and his colleague got it wrong.
“There’s no reason to believe the work wasn’t done back in 2002, 2003,” he said. “We found there was not proof the work wasn’t properly permitted. There was no reason to believe the permitting was not properly drawn out. There was a lot of assumptions made and I don’t believe the assumptions were correct. We didn’t find anything to suggest that [Joyce] did anything wrong.”
Bushway told the board that the realtor’s listing was for marketing purposes and had little to do with assessment value. The Globe based its story on the asking price for the home of $1.725 million versus the assessed value of $867,500.
“The brokers very often will embellish because they’re trying to get the highest price,” Bushway said. “You can ask whatever you want for a house, but that doesn’t mean that’s what you’ll get.”
The Globe reported that town assessors had not been in the Joyce house since it was purchased in 2003, suggesting inspectors were kept in the dark about what the house looked like inside. But Bushway said because inspections are performed during weekday work hours, it’s more common than not for assessors to fail to gain entry on inspections when no one is home.
“To be fair here, 60 percent of the time we don’t get in and it says right on our website, homeowners are not required to let our inspectors in,” said Henderson.
The Milton Board of Selectmen planned to take up the issue at their 7 p.m. meeting, but Town Administrator Annemarie Fagan said “an extensive investigation” into the Joyce issue had not been completed in time.
The key issues at this point follow.
* Was the said to have been permitted work consistent with the work actually done?
* Was the work done duly inspected AND approved?
* Why is the current Town of Milton assessment description at considerable odds with the marketing material description c/o the real estate company with the sales listing?
The discrepancies are far more than now counting a onetime sewing room as a bedroom.
Discrepancies include that BOTH the attic and basement have been made into habitable living spaces but such is not noted in the Town of Milton’s online assessment records for this property nor do these improvements appear to be factored into the assessment value calculation process.
Needless to say, such needs to be duly explained by Milton officials.
Also note that this house was relocated to its current location shortly before the Joyces bought the property and it then underwent considerable renovation over a span of at least many months, if not years.
As such, at what point – or points – was the property reassessed to reflect its extensive renovation and the expansion of the house’s living space?
To find out, the property’s full assessment file needs to be reviewed and then duly explained by Milton officials, if not also made public.
In the meanwhile, the discrepancies would appear to be sufficient to justify the negative press coverage to date.
Bullspit. Someone powerful targeted Joyce. The IRS and FBI at his office because he allegedly got some free dry cleaning years ago?
Tell you what: how about waiting until the feds might hand down indictments? Oh, and don’t be surprised if they might entail other sorts of “laundering.”
Haven’t you been paying attention lately? The pattern is clear. Someone is targeted by a powerful interest. It begins with Globe articles, followed by the FBI and IRS. Sal DiMase got in the way of the Casino moguls and soon thereafter the articles began and then the federal indictment (the locals would not indict as there was nothing there). Mary Walsh is currently being targeted for the same reason — standing up to Wynn. The “Palestinian” landlord was next — he had properties Harold Brown wanted back. Extraordinary City Council threats made against him (by wonder boy Zakim). Then O’Brien at Probation. The “Armeninan” taxi cab owner. And now Mary Walsh (via attacks on the unions to date) and Joe Curtatone — again due to Steve Wynn. On the other hand, powerful interests have been protected by Judge Mark Wolf broke the law to protect the identity of the wealthy businessman who was whoring and got extorted. And, of course, Joyce.