Why do the Assessors need to come to my home?

The short answer is that per state law, we’re required to make these visits.
 
Per Mass. General Law Chapter 59, Sect. 39 all municipalities in the Commonwealth are required to assess all real and personal property at "full and fair cash value." To achieve this, the Department of Revenue mandates that each municipality do a full data collection at each of its parcels at least once every ten years. Because of the ten-year repeating cycle, these inspections are referred to as "cyclical inspections."

Assessing office employees or our contracted employees may have several reasons to visit your property. Below are a few common reasons:

• For your properties cyclical inspection (at least once every ten years)
• To inspect any permitted alteration work
• To verify property sales

A Town of Barnstable data collector or contracted employee will visit your property between the hours of 8:30am – 4:30pm, Monday through Friday.  They will identify themselves as Assessing office employees and will have town-approved photo IDs along with a vehicle displaying the Town of Barnstable official seal. The Barnstable Police Department has record of the Town and contracted employees performing the data collection, as well as vehicle descriptions.

The data collector or contracted employee will be carrying a copy of the most recent field card for your property. The entire purpose of the visit is to make certain that all of the data for the interior and exterior of your property that is listed on that field card is as accurate as possible.  In total, the entire process should rarely take more than 5-10 minutes.

The Board of Assessors and its employees appreciate your cooperation in providing the representative with the information necessary to undertake this assignment.

If you have any questions regarding this project, please contact the Assessors’ Office at (508) 862-4022.