By Renee Worthing
Register Reporter
   Acton’s Warrant and Finance Committee members are slated to meet with an auditor on Dec. 13 to discuss the results of a recent audit and subsequent recommendations.
   Ron Smith of RHR Smith & Company, a certified accounting firm hired by the town of Acton to conduct audits, cited several areas of concern, including “(inadequate) documentation of valuation adjustments made during the year,” “inadequate documentation of review of the Board of Assessors in valuation adjustments” and property valuations based on site visitations that did not take place.
   The audit was a result of Selectman Jim Driscoll’s allegations that fellow Selectman Michael Conway took improper steps to have his property assessment  being reduced by $44,000 by Assessing Agent Rod Wood of Brett Pervis and Associates.
   Driscoll, who tendered his resignation on Nov. 6, alleged Conway’s recent reassessment was granted after a private meeting with Wood and without documentation, an action Driscoll said was morally wrong.
   “Ethically, you can’t meet with the assessor and have your taxes reduced without comparisons,” Driscoll said. “Never, never would I do something like that.”
   Driscoll said it was not the first time Conway attempted to have his property taxes reduced.
   Conway agreed.
   “I did what every other citizen can do,” Conway said. “You go up there and say, ‘This is wrong.’”
   An application for abatement of property taxes in 2005, on file with Acton, shows Conway requested a $120,000 abatement in real estate valuation based on two appraisals. The abatement was denied, although there is no documentation to explain the decision.
   “I have never gotten an abatement. An abatement is money back,” Conway said.
   He said when he attempted to have his home value reassessed in the spring of 2007, he corrected “inaccurate facts about my basement, the number of rooms and which zones were heated.”
   “I requested Rod Wood come to my house numerous times. What am I supposed to do? Drag him there?” Conway asked. “Numerous residents said they could never get him to their house either.”
   He said he felt vindicated by the auditor’s report, which said there no finding of a “willful act on Conway’s part to manipulate the town’s assessing software to carry out this valuation adjustment.”
   “I knew in the beginning I did nothing wrong. My house was assessed wrong. I didn’t ask for special favors,” he said.
   The report cited the adjustment was “consistent with current and past assessing practices in which there was inadequate documentation to support adjustments.” It also stated “property valuations adjustments are prepared based on site visitations or conversations with property owners and documentation provided by the property owner to the assessing agent.”
   According to the report, site visits were not always performed and “in most cases” property valuations adjustments are not given to the assessors for review.
   In Acton, the board of selectmen also serves as the board of assessors, which delegates authority to an assessing agent.
   The auditor suggested Acton not approve a valuation adjustment without verifying a site visit had been performed. It was also recommended that all site visits and notes be recorded in the assessing records of the respective property.
   Conway also said he agreed with the findings in the auditors report.
   “It (the assessing process) is a disaster,” Conway said. “We need a lot of work there.”
   The auditor will also recommend the town hire a “professional full time manager or administrator,” but Conway said he was uncertain about that suggestion. He said he wanted to discuss the issue of a town manager with Smith before he committed to an answer.
   However, he said he was strongly in favor of a five-person selectman board rather than the three-person board the town currently uses.
   However, the suggestion to hire a town manager is backed by out-going Acton Town Selectman Jim Driscoll.
   “Right now the town needs a town manager,” Driscoll said. “That will be my last fight.”
   He vowed to file a petition to hire a town manager if the board of selectmen elected not to hire one.
   Conway said he is also “strongly in favor of a town charter –  right now.”
   He said a town charter would serve as “template” for many of the activities that go on in town.
   Four residents, Dana McGlincey, Tony Cogliandro, Dick Neal and Patrick Hannon will contend for Driscoll’s unexpired term in a special election scheduled for Jan. 8.
   Conway said he was looking forward to working with whichever candidate wins the seat.
   “I have respect for all four people running for selectman,” he said.
   He said Hannon, who initially brought the assessment issue to the forefront, is a “business man and I think we would work well together.”
   “I would welcome Pat to the board, Dana, Tony or Dick,” Conway said. “It takes a lot of courage to put your name on the ballot. I have a new respect for people that do.”
   He said he was looking forward to a “very happy new year” and said he was eager to put the property assessment issue behind him.
   “This whole thing has been a witch-hunt,” he said.