Paying for city government should be fair, but property taxes are based on assessments which can be manipulated. An excellent example is abuse of the permitting process — check out the Recorder.com articled entitled “Greenfield residents, officials call for embattled assessor chair’s resignation,” Dec. 6, 2022.

I am running for the Greenfield Board of Assessors because I love this city and the people I’ve met here, and I have the time to devote to developing a fairer and more equitable system for every citizen who pays taxes in Greenfield.

I moved to Greenfield four years ago after taking an early retirement package from General Motors where I was a research engineer. I now have a part-time job at MIT. I don’t have a real estate or finance background, but I do know how to do research, crunch numbers, make presentations, and attend meetings. I don’t own multiple houses or any commercial properties, so I have no financial incentive to manipulate numbers for my personal benefit.

In the spirit of improving assessing in Greenfield, I’m asking for anyone who has had an experience with the assessing process here that we might learn from, if you can please send me your story. For example, if in spite of the mayor’s claim that she lowered the tax rate to historic lows, your assessment was increased, and your property taxes increased by more than you expected, let me know. These kinds of reports from customers were invaluable in improving cars. The first step to improving is asking how what we have now isn’t where we want to be. I’ll take your letters to my first meeting as assessor, and share the information with the board.

Please mail your assessing stories to Chuck Green at 138 Highland Ave, Greenfield, MA 01301, or GreenForGreenfield@gmail.com. For change in Greenfield, please vote Green for assessor on Nov. 7.

Charles Arthur Green

Greenfield

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