LowellDeeds

In other parts of the county, property taxes are assessed and collected by county government. Consequently we get a lot of calls each day from people seeking tax information about particular properties. Up until now, we've only been able to explain that the treasurer or tax collector for the town in which the property is located is the person with that information and suggest that the caller find the telephone number by dialing information. That doesn't seem particularly helpful, though, so we are compiling a list of the telephone number of the tax collector's office for every city and town in Massachusetts. We should have it done sometime next week and will post it on our website so that everyone will have access to it. On another topic, we're starting to replace some of the computers around the registry. Most of the ones we're using now were purchased back in 1999 with money that was available for Y2K preparations. While these machines seem to work fine, most people in the computer industry suggest replacing computers every two years - three at the most - due to rapid changes in technology. We've decided to start replacing a few of ours at a time so our entire inventory of machines doesn't become obsolete at the same time. Regarding the older machines, our users have been kind in not complaining about the appearance (and feel?) of the keyboards. The combination of oily residue from the many fingers that touch the keys and the dust and grit that's constantly in the air in this old building make for some grungy keyboards. We're going to make a determined effort to keep the keyboards and monitors cleaner than we have in the past. Maybe this is one reason all the new keyboard are black and not the traditional tan - the dirt doesn't show as much.