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Created on Thursday, 08 March 2012 18:31

Written by David Huck

Hebron grand list drops after revaluation

By David Huck
Journal Inquirer

HEBRON — The town’s 2011 grand list of taxable property fell by 12.95 percent from the previous year, primarily due to the recent revaluation to update real estate values, the assessor’s office said.

The grand list was finalized last week after the assessor’s officer received an extension due to a change in staff in the department.

The total grand list for Oct. 1, 2011, is $768,630,730, which is a decrease of $99,588,090, or 12.956 percent less than 2010’s $868.21 million.

The grand list includes the net taxable assessments of motor vehicles, personal property, and real estate.

Debra Gernhardt, the town’s assessor, said the real estate portion had the only decrease — 15.13 percent — while motor vehicle and personal property assessments went up by 4.01 percent and 5.07 percent respectively.

Gernhardt said that the rise in personal property was “due to purchases by the property owners,” and the rise in motor vehicles resulted from residents purchasing new vehicles.

Revaluation is done every five years as required by state law. Assessments are set at 70 percent of market value.

The grand list is used to calculate the town’s tax rate. The 2011 grand list corresponds to the tax bills payable beginning in July 2012.

Last week, during a budget presentation, Interim Town Manager Andrew Tierney stressed the importance of reaching out to residents to explain how the grand list will likely affect their taxes.

Many starter homes retained their value throughout the economic downturn, Tierney said, while the value of most larger dropped. Also, because 97 percent of property in town is residential, the tax burden falls on families, rather that being shared with businesses.

Under Tierney’s $34.27 million budget proposal, which seeks a 0.54 percent or $182,574 percent increase over the current year’s plan, the mill rate would have to increase by 13.34 percent from 30.36 mills to 34.30 mills.

For a resident with a home assessed at $169,441, taxes would climb from $5,118 to $5,881. For someone with a home assessed at $231,701, taxes would increase from $7,566 to $7,947. A resident with a home having an assessed value of $346,650 would see the taxes drop from $13,063 to $11,890.

Connecticut Light & Power Co. is the town’s largest taxpayer. If the tax rate were to increase by 13.34 percent, the utility company would see a $41,170 increase in their tax bill over last year’s $179,762.

In 2010, the value of taxable property increased by 0.809, a slight gain over the year before, mostly due to a new law related to the reporting of cell phone towers as property to towns, rather than the state.

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Created on Friday, 24 February 2012 13:13

Written by Ed Jacovino

Bolton, Andover could face school penalty
By Ed Jacovino

Journal Inquirer

Published: Thursday, February 23, 2012 12:28 PM EST

HARTFORD — Small towns would face penalties if they don’t form regional schools or cut education spending to less than the state average, under legislation Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has proposed. The penalties would hit towns that spend more than the state average per student but have fewer than 1,000 students. They start at $100 in state aid per student, and would kick in for the 2015-16 school year.

The penalty would increase by $100 per student every year after that.

Bolton would be affected if education costs there increase even slightly. The same could be true for Andover, based on the size of its school system. Malloy, a Democrat, on Wednesday defended the proposal, saying the state has many small school systems in which student populations are shrinking while costs are going up. He made the comments after addressing hundreds of town officials at the annual meeting of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns.

“We need to start planning for the future,” Malloy said, by deciding whether it makes sense for tiny school systems to each employ human resource and facility directors, superintendents, assistant superintendents, and the like.

Read more: It’s not easy, being small

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Created on Saturday, 02 June 2012 14:36

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