SWAMPSCOTT — The Board of Assessors voted to support a change to the field card of Select Board member David Grishman’s Sampson Avenue home during its meeting Tuesday.
A field card is the official detailed financial record of a home’s history and features, such as land value. Grishman’s field card currently has no value assigned to the property’s basement, which Board of Assessors chair Tasia Vasiliou described as an error due to the fact that the basement is finished and therefore should factor into the home’s total worth.
“I’ve been asking for this to be corrected for many, many months,” Vasiliou said. “It started in May of 2023.”
The vote passed 2-0, with newest member Charile Patsios abstaining due to his lack of familiarity with the situation. Vasiliou argued that a field card error traditionally would not require a vote, however Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald requested the board take one.
“In an attempt to keep this moving and eliminate excuses, I would like to put this to vote,” Vasiliou said.
Vasiliou expressed her belief that Fitzgerald has intentionally impeded her efforts to adjust the field card because he thinks she is intentionally targeting a Select Board member.
“I had no interest in this property at all until it came across our desks as an abatement application, which was granted,” Vasiliou said. “In that process, we identified the error in the field card and there’s been a lot of resistance in getting it corrected.”
Fitzgerald responded by saying he has never once taken issue with the Board of Assessors’ processes, other than to remind them that they have to be “fair and just.”
“The Board of Assessors’ responsibility is to impartially execute and establish fair market value for every property in town,” Fitzgerald said. “I certainly hope they’ve made decisions based on the market.”
He added that he was unfamiliar with the details of Grishman’s field card, but that any error found would be the Board of Assessors’ purview to correct and he would not oppose it.
