Fort Fairfield Journal About Us Contact Us Advertising Rates Subscribe Distribution Bible Reference Our Library
|
Perham Selectmen Harassing Local Family
Fighting an Inept City Hall, Bogdanovic Family Paying Dearly to Make Selectmen Follow the Rules
By: David Deschesne Fort Fairfield Journal, June 15, 2011, p. 1 PERHAM, Maine—When Milan and Tina Bogdanovic chose to move to Maine, they thought the State’s Constitution meant what it said in its opening paragraph, which states, “All people are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.” Choosing to locate in Perham, they thought they had moved into “God’s Country” but now it seems dark lines of malevolent force bisect that quiet little town; an evil that manifests itself in a body of selectmen who are not only hopelessly incompetent but view as a threat anyone who attempts to correct them. A major issue Mrs. Bogdanovic had to contend with was a grossly exaggerated tax assessment against her New Holland farm tractor. She initially thought it was exempt because it was used for farm crops, but learned it was not in a February 23, 2010 letter from the town. At that point she went to the New Holland dealer who sold her the tractor, got all the necessary information and brought it to the town office, which subsequently “lost” it and considered her to not have filed the information. In the February 23, 2010 letter Mike McPherson, the town’s sub-contracted tax assessor and then head selectman, Ray Wood claimed that the town sent the Bogdanovics a letter on July 12, 2009 requesting the year of manufacture, make, model and purchase price of the tractor. The Bogdanovics say they never received that letter asking for the information above. “They claim that since we did not respond to this letter they had to estimate the value of the tractor,” said Mrs. Bogdanovic. “They estimated it at $85,500. Upon receiving the February 23 letter with the estimated tax value of the tractor, I called Crown Equipment and requested a document to provide to the town the true value of the tractor. Crown Equipment provided me with a form called a Dealer's Certificate which I took over to the town office.” Accompanying Bogdanovic to the town office as a witness was her friend, Debra Viola, also from Perham. Recently, the two attended a meeting with McPherson and the Perham selectman in order to discuss the tax assessment discrepancy. The issue was McPherson estimated the tractor to be worth $85,500 when it was actually purchased for a little over $42,000. His flawed estimate seems to be because he didn't go to the New Holland dealer for a price, but to a tractor dealer who doesn't even sell New Hollands. “I took the tractor with the loader, which is part of the tractor in the front of it, I took a picture of it to [a tractor dealer in the area], to the people who deal with tractors and trucks and farm equipment every day of their life,” said McPherson. “I said here's a picture, give me an estimate of what that tractor would run. The gentleman looked at it and said that would run somewhere in the neighborhood of $85,500 or $85,600.” “They don't sell New Hollands so I don't know how he would know how much it would cost,” Mrs. Bogdanovic retorted. “Tractors are tractors, they're all pretty close to the same. They may vary some, but a gentleman who deals in tractors, taking them in in trades selling them for his living, would have some idea - certainly much better than I would - as what a tractor was worth. So, that's the estimate,” said McPherson. When asked to produce a written estimate from the tractor dealer, McPherson noted it was only a verbal estimate and nothing was submitted to the town in writing. “So, it's a verbal estimate from a man with no name, how do we know how reliable he is?” said Debra Viola, who was at the meeting as a witness to the fact that the original paperwork had been submitted to the town back in Spring of 2010. “The estimate should have been in writing.” “There's probably a lot of things that people should do that they don't do, but were not on purpose,” said McPherson. “That's a lot of money, that's a big mistake to make,” said Viola. “I think you would have a written estimate to back that up, otherwise that doesn't seem like you are really doing your job that well. Seems like bad business.” At that point the selectmen suggested they stick with the facts and not resort to 'personal attacks.' After being called out on not getting a written estimate on the grossly inflated tractor pricing, McPherson then attempted to move the meeting along. “Let's consider this what we call a de novo hearing. Let's talk about the facts as we know them today,” said McPherson. “I don't want 'who said, he said, I said, she said, we said,' I don't care. Let's look at the facts that you got. I'll give you the information that I have and let's come to some kind of conclusion and resolution. I'm not going to blame anybody for what they said or didn't say, that's really irrelevant. You've got papers, let's look at the actual papers you've got, let's talk about what we can do to make this thing correct and make it resolved.” Interestingly, McPherson is operating by fiat of the selectmen, since the voters of Perham for two consecutive years voted not to fund him as a subcontractor, or a tax assessor position in general. The town of Perham has no full time tax assessor, so in the past they had sub-contracted that work out. The town of Perham operates under a town meeting form of government so it is the inhabitants in the town who vote on how much money gets spent, on what it is spent, and to whom. The selectmen are elected merely to carry out the voters' budget. In March, 2010 at the annual town meeting, the voters voted on Article 8 of their town budget, “To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate $5,640 to use Just Value Associates for the ensuing year to continue as the assessor's agent for the Town of Perham.” The voters at that town meeting did not approve that article. However, the selectmen went right ahead and continued using McPherson's services against the mandate from the voters by paying him out of “office expenses.” In the March, 2011 town meeting, the selectmen attempted to disguise McPherson's fees and services in a “miscellaneous” expense column under office expenses, which they were not allowed to do because in the past that particular line item was a stand alone article in the town budget. When the voters discovered this deception in the discussion on the article, they promptly voted to amend it to abolish the miscellaneous column, thereby voting once again to not fund a tax assessor position. The selectmen, however, are still sub-contracting and paying McPherson against the public vote of the Perham inhabitants. “What I would like to see happen is that this figure be adjusted to the correct figure, which is why I brought this in over a year ago,” said Bogdanovic, “to have this figure adjusted to be a fair taxable amount and I'm willing to pay that. Then the town gets their money and I feel that I'm being treated fairly.” McPherson claimed that he has to see the farming operation by coming to Bogdanovic's home to confirm the tractor's implements were being used to till and farm on their land. “If I can satisfy myself that you are indeed in the farming business, then I will recommend to the selectmen that they do make the change of removing those two pieces of equipment.” He subsequently did visit their home and found there was a farming operation there and said he would discuss adjusting the tax value on the equipment with the town selectmen. In another event, the town selectmen, acting on the advice of a former selectman that apparently held a personal grudge against the Bogdanovic family, sued them for allegedly violating their local building codes by building a chicken coop without a building permit. “Our position on this is that a building permit was not needed for a portable chicken coop,” said Bogdanovic. “Our attorney, after reading the document, said there is 'legitimate issue as to whether a structure that is not fixed to the ground requires a permit.' When we built the coop it never occurred to us that we should ask permission first. So a few months after the coop was built, the code enforcement officer, Robert Ouellette, called and told me to fill out a permit. I asked him to send me the paperwork along with a copy of the building code that he said we violated. The town would never provide us a copy of the code that they expected us to comply with.” After asking in writing twice and over the phone three times for a copy of the alleged code they were violating, the town refused to comply. “So our question is how are we supposed to comply with something that they won't let us read?” The Bogdanovics were finally given a copy of the code when the town served them with court papers, suing them for said alleged violation. There was no Planning Board, or Zoning Board of Appeals meeting scheduled, in fact there was no duly established Board of Appeals in place at the time. “Upon reading the code, I found it does not apply to our chicken coop,” said Bogdanovic. “The bottom line is, a former selectman does not like my husband or me. During his tenure as selectman he made slanderous and libelous statements about my husband and harassed us regarding a high assessment of our home for taxation - far beyond what other comparable properties are in this town - tillage equipment, our dog, and the chicken coop. There is not one person in this town who has been brought to court over a building code issue and people have erected carports, built summer camps, barns, our dear selectman even put an addition on his barn without a permit.” In a pre-trial hearing on the alleged zoning violation, the town's attorney told the judge the town had several meetings with the Bogdanovics to resolve the issue. “They never met with us,” said Bogdanovic. “I have never received a request from the town to discuss anything. One day these court papers just showed up at my door.” Rather than undergo a lengthy and expensive court battle that could have resulted in fines of tens of thousands of dollars, the Bogdanovics agreed to settle with the town, out of court, for $2,300 for fines and lawyer fees - more than what the chicken coop originally cost to build - and to fill out an application for a permit that they still don't believe was required. “This seems to be how this town operates, once they see you challenging them, they target you and try to wear you down emotionally and financially.” The Bogdanovics plan to remain steadfast in their attempts to route incompetence and corruption from their town office and will remain active toward those ends until fair and competent groups of selectmen are seated.
|
|
||
