Townwide Property Revaluation Begins

By Steve Bigham

A townwide property revaluation in Newtown officially kicked off this week as workers began inspecting local homes and businesses to determine if their value had changed.

The revaluation process will take place over the next 18 months and will be implemented in time to affect tax bills for the fiscal year 2003-2004.

According to Tax Assessor Denise Hames, this revaluation program will create more accurate and uniform assessments between real properties based on current fair market values. This in turn will generate a more evenly dispersed tax base throughout the municipality, by which every property owner will pay only their share of Newtown’s tax burden.

The last revaluation in Newtown took place in 1995 and succeeded in lowering the town’s tax rate, which dropped from 32 mills to 25 mills. Generally, the mill rate drops following revaluation because of the growth of the grand list and property values overall. However, a revaluation does not affect taxes uniformly.

“It’s really the ratio of value of one property to another that changes,” explained First Selectman Herb Rosenthal. “When there’s a revaluation, some people’s taxes go up, some people’s taxes go down, and some stay the same. Overall, there’s no change in the taxes. They’re just reallocated in a more fair basis. That’s the reason the state requires that it be done every four years.”

Lesher Glendinning Municipal Services, Inc., of East Haven has been contracted to conduct the revaluation for the October 1, 2002, grand list. Under the supervision of the tax assessor, the company will collect and analyze information regarding all properties in town.

According to Mrs Hames, all properties will be visited, but only certain properties will actually be entered.

The first step in the process is to inspect and measure all homes that have been sold beginning October 1, 2000, through October 1, 2002. Also to be physically inspected are homes in less than average condition, any home with functional depreciation; and all other residential properties shall be “walked around” looking for any discrepancies that differ from the previous revaluation sketches.

All industrial and commercial property will be inspected and measured.

Once data has been collected for the entire town, the company and assessor will analyze current market trends to arrive at the market value of a particular home, business, or property. Notices of new assessments will be mailed to all property owners in the fall/winter of 2002.

In the next few months, a field person will visit your property. Each person will carry a photo identification and have their car registered with the Newtown Police Department. Following the inspection, each homeowner will be asked to sign a form to verify that the home was inspected and does not commit to any values. The inspection will take about 10 minutes.

State statutes require that a revaluation be done every four years, with a full physical revaluation to be done every 12 years.

According to the tax assessor’s office, there are 8,200 homes in Newtown, 130 condominiums, 130 module homes, 200 commercial buildings, and 35 industrial buildings.

The grand list, which this year tops out at $1.79 billion in Newtown, measures the assessed value of all taxable property in town, including personal property and motor vehicles. Two years ago, the grand list showed an increase of five percent, a reflection of both the building boom and the booming economy.

This year, the town’s growth in the grand list did not see the kind of increases it has seen in recent years, a fact that has been attributed to a shortage of available building lots. There has, however, been an increase in the amount of commercial construction. According to Building Official Tom Paternoster, the number of commercial building permits is up due to projects like Homesteads, the proposed 165,000 square foot 5/6 school, and a lot of small projects in the 3,000 to 4,000-square-foot range. Fairfield Hills is also expected to keep the town’s building department busy.

The grand list totals out of the assessor’s office show real estate is up $45 million to $1.54 billion. Personal property assessments of $73.2 million increased $9.9 million. Motor vehicle assessments – up $13.9 million – now total $172.3 million. Records in the assessor’s office indicate there are a total of 23,270 taxable vehicles in Newtown, up 769 from the year before.

Automobile taxes usually go down following a revaluation because the grand list grows and that helps to lower the mill rate