Feoffees Financials Statement.pdf
Remarkably, the Feoffees of Ipswich do not list as an asset the 30-or-so acre asset which is the reason for their existence. [A Note to a related (and audited!) report says "The land has no determinable value..." Very funny!]
One might say that this is consistent with the fact that they are merely trustees, not owners (and therefore can't sell it).
But it also might point to the Feoffees being unwilling to attempt to value the land. The assessor values it, every year. I've not seen the Assessor's aggregate valuation in print, but I have a spreadsheet on which I attempted to list all the properties which the Feoffees own on Little Neck. Quick and dirty, it works out this way (last year's valuation, which is a bit higher than this year's), for the individual lots I've looked at:
- 167 tenant-rented lots 10.45 acres $31.4 million ($3 million per acre)
- 1 large "commons" lot 11.00 acres $0.7 million ($77,000 per acre -- 2.6% of the tenant lots)
- about 40 vacant subdivided lots 2.88 acres $0.9 million ($320,000 per acre -- 10% of the occupied lots)
- community house $84,900
- piers, etc: $74,300
- plus the roads which serve the homes on Little Neck.
The financial statement does value the sewage treatment plant at $6.7 million. I'm guessing that under the negotiated deal, the tenants are expecting to get it for free, or at least get the use of it. The media stories have been silent about this aspect.
Separately, but relatedly, I stumbled onto an interesting document from a few years ago. Among other things, it says that as of 2001, 2 of the 4 then-current Feoffees had, during their Feoffeeship, also been tenants on Little Neck. Talk about conflict of interest! (This is expressly prohibited by the terms of the trust, as I understand them. I guess the terms of the trust are an inconvenient truth. Pesky details.)
And as of 1996, the Superintendent of Schools was a Little Neck tenant; the report doesn't say for how long this was the case. But it does say that the schools received no contributions in some years AT THE REQUEST OF THE SUPERINTENDENT -- and the data show only token contributions in many years (consistent with the token rents being collected).
The same report shows the 8 properties which changed hands in 2001, with selling prices well above assessed values for land and buildings combined, despite the fact that all that was really being sold was the building. Assuming the assessor's valuation of the buildings to be accurate, and subtracting it from the selling price, yields a land value about 2.5 times the assessed value (range: 115% to 264%, with 5 out of 8 above 229%). Land values per lot calculated that way ranged from $119,000 to $297,000 -- in 2001 -- and full-market land rents (at 5% of land value) would have been $5,945 to $14,850. Actual rents in 2001 were $1,760 (seasonal) to $1,980 (year-round) -- what a deal (for the tenants; not so much, for the beneficiaries)!
Simply collect the market rent on this land. Care for the property. Remit remainder of rent to the schools.
This blog has more observations and history on this story. See them collected at http://lvtfan.typepad.com/lvtfans_blog/feoffees-land/.
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