Bill would offer tax reprieve in surging housing market
A proposed bill could provide homeowners in some Connecticut municipalities a brief reprieve by allowing local officials to delay property revaluations up to one year.
Connecticut property values have rebounded during the COVID-19 pandemic to levels not seen since the real estate boom of the mid-2000s, as high-rise dwellers in New York City have sought an escape to the town and country lifestyle.
In some instances, that has cascaded into annual tax bills homeowners and businesses pay municipalities where they are located. Bridgeport’s “grand list” of property values jumped 23 percent last year, with owners having until earlier this week to file appeals.
Democrats proposed the bill last week in the Connecticut General Assembly, where it will get an initial consideration in the Planning & Development Committee. The bill would allow municipalities to delay up to one year any initiation of revaluations through 2023.
“The municipality can vote on it,” said state Rep. David Michel, D-Stamford. “I believe in letting the cities decide on this, especially under the assumption that it can offer temporary relief for many, in the case that the reval would end up in an increase in property tax, which seems most likely for many homeowners.”
The committee’s co-chairs are Sen. Steve Cassano, D-4, a former Manchester mayor whose district includes Glastonbury and Bolton that are up for revaluations in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, DFairfield.
As part of his budget plan, Gov. Ned Lamont has proposed expanding Connecticut’s property tax credit to $300 annually from its current level of $200, and ending a restriction that allowed only taxpayers with dependents or those age 65 and older to qualify.
“Property tax is pretty relentless — you pay it in good times, you pay it in bad times,” Lamont said this month when he announced the tax-credit expansion. “It particularly hits the middle class hard, and we’re doing everything we can to mitigate that.”
Under Connecticut law, municipalities complete property revaluations every five years, with taxpayers able to challenge those findings to lower their property assessments.
Stamford, Danbury, Middletown, Ansonia, Bethel, Guilford, Newtown, Orange, Redding, Ridgefield and Wilton are among those that have revaluations underway this year.
Norwalk, Darien, New Canaan, Madison and Weston are scheduled next year for revaluations, which could be pushed back a year under the bill.
For revaluations completed in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, Connecticut values totaled $392 billion spanning homes, autos, apartments, commercial buildings and other property subject to assessment for tax purposes. That was up $7.1 billion from the prior year.
In 2020, Bridgeport saw the single-biggest jump in grand-list value, a 23 percent increase from 2019. Many Bridgeport taxpayers were vocal after seeing their bills go up on the heels of a 2016 revaluation.