Laurence F. Whittemore, III v. Westerly Tax Assessor

I concur in the entirety of the Court’s opinion in this case. However, I am troubled by the result reached with respect to. the taxpayers’ challenge to the 2011 assessment. I concede that existing Rhode Island precedent supports the Court’s conclusion that the statutory requirement that particular language be included in the application form is directory rather than mandatory. While I consider it to be an exceedingly close question, I am persuaded that the fact that the General Assembly did not provide for any specific remedy for a municipality’s failure to abide by the statutory requirement…