FALL RIVER — The controversial downward valuation of former City Administrator Cathy Ann Viveiros’ Hathaway Street home, which led to the resignation of the city’s former assessor and Viveiros' own departure from city hall, is on the market just south of $400,000.
One of the selling points for the smartly rehabbed river-view property near the City Pier is the low amount of taxes Viveiros paid in 2020.
According to a broker’s listing provided to The Herald News, the home at 28 Hathaway St. went on the market this week with a price tag of $389,900.
In 2020, Viveiros paid $2,790 in taxes for the completely renovated four-bedroom, 2.5-bath home with the city’s assessed value of $193,100.
If the city had assessed the property for Viveiros’ asking price, she would have paid $5,634 in real estate taxes.
Viveiros ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign in November against front-runner and eventual winner Paul Coogan after former Mayor Jasiel Correia II, facing 24 federal fraud and political corruption charges, announced he was suspending his campaign for re-election.
It was Viveiros’ sixth unsuccessful bid for mayor in an extensive political career that included a long-time seat on the City Council and six years as city administrator under three mayors.
Days after Viveiros announced her write-in campaign in October, it came to light that city tax and assessor records showed the value of the property was significantly reduced from the value assessed when Viveiros purchased the single-family home in January 2016. Viveiros bought the 100-year-old property for $85,000 in an estate sale.
Records in the assessors’ office, then headed by Ben Mello, showed that the city valued the property at $192,000 and that $2,635 was paid in taxes the year Viveiros bought the home.
However, the following year, and during Viveiros’ renovation of the property, the assessed value decreased to $136,800, with Viveiros paying $1,922 in taxes.
In 2018, the value of the Hathaway Street home continued to decrease to $133,900, with Viveiros paying $1,965 in taxes.
In 2019, a revaluation year, the value increased to $157,300, with Viveiros paying $2,305 in taxes.
Records also showed that there was never any indoor inspection at the home by staff from the assessor’s office until Oct. 16, 2019, the day Viveiros announced her write-in campaign against Coogan.
After a report about the devaluation of Viveiros’ property was published in The Herald News, City Council President Cliff Ponte, who had stepped in as acting mayor, ordered a review conducted by the city’s real estate lawyer Matt Thomas.
After the more than 20-page report was submitted to Ponte and after Viveiros’ unsuccessful write-in campaign, Viveiros resigned. Mello resigned a short time later.
Ponte, a real estate broker by trade, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s unclear how much money Viveiros spent on the renovation of the Hathaway Street property, which she called “a labor of love” at the time.
The section of the broker’s listing that cites “cash paid for upgrades" is blank, but in 2016 Viveiros took out building permits for work valued at $30,000.
The sales listing and accompanying photographs and video boast the “gorgeous home” features “amazing unobstructed views of the Taunton River, a large kitchen, and open dining-living area perfect for family or entertaining,” as well as original woodwork, heated floor in the master bedroom and a landscaped yard.
Email Jo C. Goode at jgoode@heraldnews.com.