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Milton officials deliver a big tax bill to Senator Brian Joyce

One of Milton’s selectmen questioned whether the previous assessment of the property owned by Senator Brian Joyce (above) had been too low.Jessica Rinaldi/Globe staff

Milton town officials have raised Senator Brian Joyce’s property taxes by 54 percent based largely on a sales brochure describing its interior.

Town assessors this month set the tax value of the Joyces’ home at $1.33 million — almost half a million dollars more than the current value of $867,000. As a result, the Joyces’ property tax bill will jump from $11,711 to $18,073 in 2017.

The assessors did not inspect the inside of the home firsthand because Joyce would not let them enter, which is his legal right.

Chief assessor Robert Bushway said it was “not that uncommon” for valuations to fluctuate so much in a single year. He pointed out that the town sharply reduced the valuation of former Governor Deval Patrick’s house, located on the same street as Joyce, after the house sold for less than expected. From 2006 to 2016, Joyce’s valuation rose just 2 percent.

One of the town’s selectmen questioned whether the previous assessment had been too low.

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“How an excess of nearly $500,000 in value was not caught is a good question. I want the answers myself, and the taxpayers are due an explanation,” selectman David T. Burnes said. “While I don’t know the specific cause in this case, I’m very concerned about the appearance that an elected official received an unfair significant financial benefit.”

“I want to be careful to say that we do not know that Brian Joyce did anything wrong,” Burnes said, “but . . . if it were my house, I would let the assessors in to ensure complete transparency.”

Assessors based their findings largely on the marketing brochure distributed by Coldwell Banker when Joyce, who decided not to run for reelection this year amid a federal investigation, put the house up for sale in July for $1.725 million. It’s unclear whether the property is still on the market.

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The new valuation, to take effect starting Jan. 1, found one bathroom that officials apparently did not know about before, but much of the increased value is based on the condition and quality of the interior. Assessors also looked at comparable sales in the neighborhood, and general increases in neighborhood land value, Bushway said.

When the brochure about Joyce’s house surfaced in August, some questioned whether Joyce had obtained the necessary permits for all the work that was done. During the summer, then-Town Administrator Annemarie Fagan concluded that Joyce or the developer who sold him the house had pulled all necessary permits.

On Wednesday, selectman Burnes said he will ask his fellow selectmen to make sure that when structural or other major improvements are made to a property, inspections take place and assessors visit the site.


Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea.estes@globe.com.