SUMNER – Residents had a chance to ask questions about the town’s recent revaluation Tuesday night.

Michael O’Donnell of John O’Donnell Associates, which conducted the revaluation, addressed Sumner selectmen and residents in a packed town office. Michael Rogers of the Maine Revenue Service was also available to answer questions.

O’Donnell told taxpayers that although some mistakes were made, “there is no significant data to tell us that the whole system is skewed.”

Rogers agreed, specifying that property assessments have been somewhat less than actual market sales.

“I have looked at subsequent sales and every one has sold for greater than its value,” he said. In fact, had the town not revalued properties, it would have been in violation of state assessment standards, because the difference between assessed value and market value would have been too great.

O’Donnell briefly explained the process he used to assign values. He began with four tables, beginning at $7,000 for the first “homesite” acre and rising in $7,000 increments. He then looked at site improvements and other factors and set values for them. He explained that even if two mistakes were made in assessing a property, the valuation would only be about 10 percent off.

However, “many mistakes add up,” he said. He urged people who believe their assessments are wrong to “take a good hard look at your valuation and fill out the abatement paperwork.” When an error is found in one assessment, he said, he looks for similar errors in other assessments. Already, two abatements have been granted on doublewides that were assessed as single-story homes.

Sumner resident and former real estate agent Ed Hinshaw suggested that the tax schedules should be published before the valuation. “A lot of these problems would have been solved,” he said, if taxpayers had understood the process before they received their taxes. Selectman Marc Silber answered that “these things were done at public meetings. Nothing that is done here goes on behind closed doors.”

O’Donnell said that he had explained the process extensively to Silber and Secretary Cynthia Norton, and had taught them how to use the computer software that stores the information earlier that day. Norton offered to explain the tax tables and schedules to interested taxpayers at the town office at 2 p.m. Feb. 2. She will create a sample property to assess.

In other business, fire Chief Robert Stewart reported that the fire department received a homeland security grant, which it used to purchase seven radios, worth $3,300. The fire department has also been given a chain saw worth $1,025 by the Ladies’ Auxiliary.

Selectmen reminded residents that there will be a rabies clinic in the fire station from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 31. Saturday is also the last day to license a dog without paying a late fee.