Property Tax Revaluation Phase-In Passed

After vetoing a bill that would have allowed only five Connecticut municipalities to delay property tax revaluation, Governor Malloy introduced a proposal into the Special Session to enable any community in the state to phase-in revaluations for up to five years.

Under the proposal that was adopted as part of the special session’s SB 501, revaluations will take place as scheduled but their impact, whether it results in an increase or a decrease in taxes, can be phased in at the discretion of cities and towns.

Earlier this month the governor vetoed HB 5424, whichallowed Stamford, Norwich, Windham, New Britain, and Farmington to delay the next scheduled revaluation for the 2013 assessment year.

The governor said this legislation was unfair to apply to just those communities, and that it would have led to bigger problems for taxpayers in the municipalities.     

CBIA agrees with the governor that delaying property revaluation is problematic, but we do not support these phase-in changes, either. Under the phase-in options in this measure, it is clear there would be unfair cost-shifting. A better answer is more frequent revaluations.

For more information, contact CBIA’s Bonnie Stewart at 860.244.1925 or bonnie.stewart@cbia.com.