Home and two lots

* 1. I am a resident of the mythical city of Bayer Vermont.  I have owned my home for forty years. It is a 1.5 story home on one third of an acre. Twenty years ago the house next door burnt to the ground.  It was owned by a retired school teacher that had moved to a nursing home.  The land lay vacant for several years.  After the owner died her heirs approached me to by the land.  It is also one third of an acre.  Fifteen years ago I purchased the lot for a little less than its market value.  I now own my home and two lots totaling two thirds of an acre. The City of Bayer has sent me one tax bill based on an assessment of $140,000 since the 2013 reappraisal.

The new Bayer City Assessor just sent me a Change of Assessment notice changing the assessment from $140,000 to $160,000. She explained to me that she had discovered that properties like mine (one house on two lots) had been assessed incorrectly.  She has sent out 52 similar change notices.  She explained that my house with a one third acre lot should be assessed at $125,000 and the additional one third acre lot should be assessed at $35,000 for a total of $160,000.

I told the new Bayer City Assessor that I had been doing some sales research in the City and I didn’t dispute the value of $125,000 for my house and lot nor the value of $35,000 for the vacant lot.  I also told her that I had researched sales of homes with two lots included in the sale. None of the sales prices equaled the value of the two properties added together.  My sales research went back twenty years.  My research showed that sales of homes with two lots were slightly more than sales of homes with one lot.  

I told the new Assessor that I had talked with a few of the local developers about buying my property.  They all were interested in buying the vacant lot but none of them wanted to buy the entire property.  They told me that they didn’t want the hassle of getting rid of my home.  There were sufficient vacant lots for sale in Bayer to meet their needs.  

The new Assessor thanked me for my information but told me that it is her policy to assess each lot its individual value.  She showed me my property record card that clearly indicates a value of $125,000 for the house and lot plus $35,000 for the additional lot.  She said I could look at all the other 51 properties that she changed but I would see that I was being treated the same.

I was the only one of the 52 changed property owners to grieve my new assessment and the new Assessor denied my grievance.  I have appealed to the Bayer BCA and they have heard the same information as I told the Assessor.  They have done their site visit and are about to make a decision.  If you were on the Bayer BCA what would you do with my appeal?