Assessor Does Not Embrace Governor’s Revaluation Phase-In Plan

By John Voket

Newtown Assessor Chris Kelsey said this week that he does not favor a new initiative announced by the governor June 12 that would phase-in revaluations of properties even when property values go down.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced an initiative June 12 that will allow communities across the state to phase-in revaluations of property for a period of up to five years, even if the value of property decreases.

Under current law, municipalities can only phase-in increases in assessments. This new initiative allows towns and cities to “responsibly administer revaluations in a way that blunts the negative impact to residents,” said Gov Malloy. 

Part of the June 12 special legislative session, this initiative will be an additional tool to help municipalities deal with dramatic decreases in property values and the negative impact those changes can have on individual taxpayers, such as those that have been observed during the course of the recent recession.

“This initiative does two things: it helps local taxpayers and allows municipalities the flexibility they need to blunt the negative impact revaluation sometimes carries,” said the governor. “While we have seen improvement in our overall economy, we must continually look for ways to mitigate the impact of the recession on Connecticut residents. We know that there are properties in our state that have not yet rebounded from the collapse of the real estate market. As a former mayor, I am well aware of the havoc this situation can create for local governments.

“After today,” he continued, “we’ll have a fair and reliable process in place that will let local executives navigate these difficult circumstances.”

But Newtown’s assessor said regular revaluations are implemented to maintain equity among all property taxpayers.

“Reval sets everybody at current market value so everybody pays their fair share,” Mr Kelsey said shortly after the governor’s announcement Tuesday. “Reval distributes the burden based on a shifting segment of the old reval and the proportional segment of the new revaluation each year.”

Mr Kelsey counts himself among Connecticut assessors who do not favor the phase-in.

“If there is a large shift in commercial values — if commercial value goes down quickly — it mitigates the immediate proportional burden on residential owners. But it doesn’t happen too often,” he said. “I have never done one, but the options are already there. It’s just up to each town to decide to use that option.”

The local assessor said in a situation where between revals, if commercial values fell 50 percent and residential values fell 20 percent, there would be a proportional shift onto residential taxpayers to maintain equity.

“It used to be the residential taxpayers could take the whole hit in one year. This permits a phase-in that would spread any shift in that equity over five years versus one,” Mr Kelsey said.

Earlier this month Gov Malloy vetoed legislation that would have allowed towns to delay conducting the revaluation. In his veto message, the governor expressed concern over delaying revaluation, saying that doing so could exacerbate a municipality’s financial problems.

This legislation requires revaluations to go forward as statutes require, but phases-in the impact on property taxpayers.

“The governor’s proposal to broaden municipal authority to phase-in the impacts of property revaluations is good news for towns and cities. It would provide communities where property values [grand lists] have fallen an additional local-option tool to stabilize municipal finances and protect property taxpayers,” said Jim Finley, executive director and CEO of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM).