Volume 17, Issue 44
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Durham revaluation leads to seven percent drop in grand list By Sue VanDerzee Town Times While area towns are rejoicing with gains in their grand lists of less than one percent, you would think that Durham assessor John Philip would be concerned that Durham’s grand list dropped almost seven percent due to the 2010 revaluation. Not so, however. Philip is quite philosophical, explaining that the burst housing bubble, plus the still-depressed economy in general, make such a drop almost inevitable during current revaluations. For folks who might not understand those last two sentences, here’s a tiny primer on Connecticut’s local tax system. Grand lists are produced annually by local assessors and are lists of all the taxable property in a town or city. This taxable property is in the form of real estate (including homes, buildings and land), personal property (largely manufacturing equipment and inventory) and motor vehicles. Towns use the totals of taxable property in their towns when setting tax rates. Thus, the more taxable property there is in a town, the lower the tax rate can be to support town expenditures at a particular level. Towns such as Durham and Middlefield also worry about the balance in the grand list and how much of the wealth of the town is in residential real estate as opposed to business and commercial wealth. Revaluations, or redoing the list completely, are mandated by state statute to occur every five years. Durham’s took place in 2010, and thus the grand list of Oct. 1, 2010, on which taxes will be based
for the next five years, is based on this revaluation. The reason to have these revaluations, which are costly and involve extra work for town officials, is to have a “fair” tax rate. The theory is that if you have more taxable property, in the form of a larger home or multiple vehicles, then you can afford to pay more in local taxes. Given changes that occur over time – construction of a shopping center next to your neighborhood, changes in the general economy, etc. – the value of your property can increase or decrease. Thus revaluations keep the system as equitable as possible. Property owners in Durham were mailed revaluation information in mid2010. According to Philip, 84 property owners applied to speak with revaluation company representatives, 80 showed up at their appointments and 40 valuations were changed. The grand list just released includes these changes. Now that the revaluation is complete, property owners have another chance to challenge their assessments and that is through the local Board of Assessment Appeals. An application must be filed with the local group by Feb. 20 (just over a week from now). Applications are on the town website at www.townofdurhamct.org under municipal government and then assessor or by picking one up at the Building and Health Office on the second floor of Town Hall. 2010 grand list The total net assessment of all the taxable property in Durham based on the Oct. 1, 2010 grand list is $727,632,930, a 6.8 percent decline from the
Friday, Februar y 11, 2011
Enthusiasm for reading!
Above, the “Outrageous Oreganos” team participated in the Nutmeg at Night reading event at the Durham Library where teams competed in a game show format with questions from the Nutmeg book award list. By Cheri Kelley 2009 grand list total of $780,772,117. The current mill rate based on the 2009 grand list is 26.81. What that means to taxpayers is that for every $1,000 of property they own on the grand list, they pay $26.81 to support the current (2009-10) town and school budgets. Even if both town and school budget proposals for next year remain at current levels (not likely), the mill rate will go up in order to pay for it. That does not mean, however, that an individual’s taxes will go up. According to Philip, if your assessment dropped more than 6.8 percent, then your share of the town’s expenses will go down. If your assessment did not drop 6.8 percent or perhaps See Grand list, page 25
In this issue ... Calendar............................4 Durham Briefs................14 Election questions .......12-13 Inquiring Photographer....21 Libraries.........................15 Middlefield Briefs...........14 Obituary..........................23 Sports ..........................25-27
Middlefield grand list grows 0.55 percent By Cheri Kelley Town Times The updated grand list for Middlefield has recently been released, and the growth for Middlefield was 0.55 percent. The grand list is a listing of all taxable property in the town as of Oct. 1, 2010. This list is the starting point for towns when budget time rolls around. Steve Hodgetts, Middlefield’s assessor, said, “It appears that the minimal growth in Middlefield’s grand list is pretty comparative with many other towns, as long as there is no real estate revaluation.” There was a drop in personal property of 1.78 percent and motor vehicle rose by 3.59 percent. The new 2010 total taxable amount on the grand list is $464,948,950. “The increase amounts to about $42,900 in additional tax revenue if the mill rate stays the same. However,
there are many unknowns at this point – namely the town budget; Region 13 budget; and the state budget. Will the state reimburse all of the mandated programs, and at what level? We can only wait and see, “ said Hodgetts. The overall top 10 taxpayers, which includes real estate, personal property and motor vehicles, include Zygo Corp., Connecticut Light and Power, Lyman Farm Inc., Rogers Manufacturing and TET Manufacturing/SMCC, which are in the same top five positions as last year. United Holdings/United Cleaning is in the sixth position and Cooper Atkins is in the seventh; they switched positions from last year. Ramar Hall Inc./KVF Realty is position eight from 10th last year. Xenelis Construction is ninth again, and Meadowview Farm/Magee/Magner is in the 10th spot from eighth last year.