Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of profiles of town officials and community members to be featured in the South Berwick Reporter.
The town’s tax assessor says her favorite part of the job is meeting with property owners. And Verna Sharpe will be doing a lot of that in the next few years as the value of all the property in town is reappraised.
“By answering their questions, I help to educate them on the assessing process,” she said in a recent interview.
Taxes often get a bad rap, and Sharpe tries to dispel “misconceptions about assessors and the work we do. Taxes are a fact of life in a civilized society, so we commit ourselves to making sure the tax burden is apportioned fairly, according to state law, free from political influence.”
Assessing is “not your typical desk job,” she said. “There is never a dull moment.”
She enjoys the variety of work, including value and data analysis, field inspections, working with deeds, deed plots, and maps.
“Deadlines and the sheer volume of work is an ongoing challenge,” she added, “and I strive to be efficient while not losing the level of detail and integrity that is important to me.”
Sharpe works in South Berwick on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, assisted part time by Tyanne Vaspoli, deputy town clerk, and is in North Berwick for two days. Her salary of $101,750 is funded 60% by South Berwick and 40% by North Berwick.
The Town Council recently approved the creation of a full-time assessing technician position to begin January 1, 2024, to assist Sharpe with the increasing workload.
Sharpe will oversee the first complete revaluation of South Berwick property in 20 years, to be conducted by KRT Appraisals of Haverhill, Mass. Work on the three-year project is expected to begin later this summer.
Property owners will receive postcards 45 days in advance of a visit by the revaluation team, according to Town Manager Tim Pellerin’s recent report to the Town Council.
Sharpe, who attended Hesser College, was drawn to the assessing field because she “always wanted to work in the public sector and to make a positive difference. When a position became available in the Rochester Assessing Office back in 2007, I thought it would be a good opportunity. It is a fascinating field and the focus on overall fairness and equity was something I believed in and became passionate about.”
Before taking the job in South Berwick two years ago, she was deputy assessor for the city of Portsmouth. She is a certified assessor in both Maine and New Hampshire.
In her personal life, she said, “I love spending time with my family. I am a hunter, an aspiring beekeeper, gardener, an avid scrapbooker, and love to create in my art studio.”
