Although the Carver Marion Wareham Waste District has hired two assessors to determine the value of the Rte. 28 transfer station in Rochester, the land’s worth is still up in the air.

One assessor valued the land at $250,000 — in contrast to the other assessor’s valuation of $525,000.

The valuations are so disparate that the committee voted unanimously at their Feb. 26 meeting to get a third opinion.

After receiving the two current valuations, District Director Jeffrey Osuch asked the assessors to review both valuations.

Both dug in their heels.

“If this gap was $100,000, I’d say yeah, get an appraisal review. But we’re looking at some guy at 250 and another guy at 525 looking at the same piece of property, reviewing each other’s work, and basically both coming back and saying ‘he’s wrong, I’m right’ without any movement, either one,” Osuch said.

The valuation is especially important as the committee has agreed that if one town wants to buy an asset, like the land on Rte. 28, the town can buy it from the district at the appraised value. 

Wareham may be considering buying the land to operate as a transfer station after the district wraps up operation at the end of 2020.

At the next meeting in March, the committee will decide on the procedure they should use regarding the third assessor. The group seemed to be generally in agreement that they should have the assessor evaluate the property without seeing the work of the other assessors, and then take the average of the two closest values, but that has not yet been voted on.