The call for more funding and targeted disbursement of funding was clearly present in all six sessions. Participants identified four types of funding issues. First, they observed that in most jurisdictions the initial costs of a full revaluation far exceed the available funds or ability to secure local legislative funds for such an endeavor. Second, ongoing maintenance of rolls may cost some municipalities more than the $5 per parcel state reimbursement. Third, the maintenance aid is placed in the general fund, rarely if ever reaching the assessor’s office directly. Fourth, regardless of the disbursement of the aid, the participants said that the $5 per parcel was insufficient to act as an incentive.

Initial revaluation costs are high for many municipalities. Participants said that the initial cost would be well above the $5 per parcel offered in the maintenance aid program, particularly for municipalities who do not have up-to-date rolls. Participants also proposed that the state be responsible for conducting revaluations every six years, with assessors responsible for updates in the years in between.

Ongoing roll maintenance. Participants said even in those municipalities where the $5 per parcel would cover the costs associated with continuous reassessments; they would still need to ask their municipality for money up front for the resources necessary to implement the program. In some cases participants stated their municipalities had just received the maintenance aid for the assessments performed two or more years ago. The acknowledged gap between the expenditure of the increased funds and the reimbursement through the maintenance aid program was likely to be greater than the municipalities could handle and therefore the assessors expected that they would not receive additional support.

Funnel maintenance aid to the assessor’s office. Maintenance aid increases the amount of state funding to municipalities, but participants said that many of their offices “never see a dime” of that state aid. According to the participants, it is not unusual for maintenance aid to be used to fund expenses in other programs while assessors must “beg” their respective government bodies for basic operating expenditures. Therefore, the increased costs and effort to maintain continuous reassessment would not necessarily result in increased resources to do so.

The $5 per parcel was not persuasive. According to participants, the original ORPS sponsored legislative proposal for a $20 per parcel reimbursement for initial revaluation was “a much more attractive and realistic incentive than the current program.” They called for more “persuasive” funding for conducting annual reassessments.