Why is the Measure and List program required?

The last time Marlborough conducted a Measure and List program was the early 1980s. Fiscal 2003 was a re-certification year for us. At the same time we converted our assessment software system. The combination of these two issues resulted in the uncovering of the need for this update. As a result, the Dept of Revenue required the Measure and List program to commence. One of the options they have is not to certify our values that would result in the issuing of estimated bills until the requirement is met. The result of that would be an extra cost for billing and administration to the City and the possibility that when values were certified, taxpayers would have to make up large deficits in tax payments over a short period of time.