By M. D. Drysdale

Butch and Sandra Stevens stand before one of three ponds they are filling to avoid what they consider an unfair tax hike. At right, 9-year-old grandson, Nick, helps out by relocating the frog population. (Herald / Tim Calabro)

A Bethel 'Lympus couple are taking the unusual step of destroying some of their property in order to avoid paying taxes on it.

Butch and Sandy Stevens hired excavator Doug Lunna and his bulldozer Tuesday to fill in completely the three pretty "frog ponds" that have been an important part of their homestead on Campbell Road.

Tuesday morning, the three little ponds, which spilled one into another, were full of frogs, fish, salamanders and were home to a family of ducks and a turtle. The bottom one was just big enough to swim in and had a little dock.

Tuesday evening, the ponds had disappeared.

The drastic step was taken, Sandy Stevens said, because in its recent reappraisal of Bethel properties, the town had assessed the ponds for the first time, valuing them at $4900. That would cost, she estimated, about $150 a year in extra taxes, which she and her husband can't afford.

"We can no longer afford to provide a home for these little creatures," the couple wrote. "Sorry."

"We're on a fixed income," Sandy said. She said that destroying the ponds was not an action taken in haste. "It's been eating at us since the wintertime," she said.

'Mistaken'

Bethel Lister Louise Ferris-Burt, however, said that the Stevenses are simply mistaken when they say the ponds are being assessed for the first time.

The ponds were assessed last year at $3600, she said, the amount being part of the general assessment for the residence. The increase to $4900 is part of Bethel's recently-completed reappraisal, and will have minimal impact, if any, on the couple's tax liability, she said.

Bethel assesses more than 100 man-made ponds of various sizes, she said, with values up to $10,000 in the past. The value is mainly dependent on the size of the ponds.

The Stevens' new, higher appraisal is hardly affected at all by the increase in the pond value to $4900, she said. Much more important is that the couple owns 170 acres of land, which has been rising in value. The former assessment for the land was $101,800, while the new assessment is $182,000, she said.

First since 1996

The town is being reappraised by APAS LLC, Inc. for the first time since 1996, a step made necessary by the fact that Bethel's CLA had fallen to fallen to 64%- meaning that properties were undervalued by 36%.

The town's Grand List- the total assessed value of all property in town- will almost double, Ferris-Burt said, though final totals are not in.

Next Monday, the Bethel listers and the appraisal company will begin two days of "pre-hearings" with people who have questions about their new appraisals. For those still dissatisfied, there will be an opportunity for a formal hearing before the listers, which is appealable to the Board of Civil Authority.

She urged people with questions to sign up for a pre-hearing by calling 234-6840. Often "simple errors" can be corrected in the 10-minute sessions, she said.

A final irony in the case of the Stevens' three ponds is that even though they have been destroyed, the ponds will still be taxed this year.

By law, taxes are assessed on property that was in existence on April 1, when the Stevens' nine-year-old grandson was still catching salamanders.