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by Melissa Bailey | Feb 27, 2012 8:05 am

(7) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: City Hall, Revaluation

As a deadline passed, over a thousand New Haveners came forward to protest the new values the city assigned to their homes, businesses, personal property and cars.

The appeals came on the heels of a revaluation of all city property for taxation purposes. The latest reval came as a gift to some, but socked others with major increases, which could translate to a big increase in property taxes. Click here to read more about the unusually disparate impact.

Taxpayers who feel the city-hired firm, Vision Appraisal, got their property value wrong had until Tuesday to file an appeal with the civilian-run Board of Assessment Appeals. Jeffrey Granoff, the chairman of the board, tallied 1,025 appeals for real estate taxes. That’s a one-third drop from the 1,537 real estate appeals filed on the grand list from 2001, the last time the city carried out an “external visual observation” of all city properties.

In addition to the real estate appeals, Granoff said he received 84 appeals for personal property and 15 for motor vehicles.

The 2011 revaluation involved interior inspections, making it the most exhaustive in decades: Interior inspections were not required in the past three revaluations in 2006, 2001, and 1991—and the city doesn’t know if they took place in the next revaluation before that, in 1978.

In East Rock, one of the areas hit hardest by the revaluation, Alderman Justin Elicker said a large number of his constituents told him they were filing appeals.

Some, staring at a potential $10,000 jump in taxes, filed an appeal simply “to try to figure out a way to not have to pay that much.” Others had concerns about the way the city assessed their home—for example, whether the comparable properties used to set the value were really “comparable.” Elicker said the revaluation dealt an especially strong blow to condo owners, some of whom saw an increase in value of over 100 percent.

Chairman Granoff said his volunteer board is ready to listen. “Our role is to be an advocate for the citizen.”

“We hear every appeal,” he said. “Every applicant will have an appointment to present their case.” Granoff said letters should go in the mail Monday announcing the dates for individual hearings, which will begin on March 7.

Thomas MacMillan Photo The board consists of the same three-man team (pictured) as last year—Chris Mordecai, Granoff, and Kenneth Janke—plus attorney Cordalie Benoit, who was appointed by the Board of Aldermen as a fourth member. After the hearings are done, the board will begin deliberations—click here and here to follow their systematic work last year.

Meanwhile, back in East Rock, Elicker has been trying to come up with solutions on how to lessen the blow of the revaluation while not penalizing those whose values dropped. After a meeting he co-hosted last week on the topic, neighbors came up with two solutions, both of which would require state approval.

The first solution would be to phase in taxes only for people who saw a large increase in property value. People whose property values dropped would not have their values phased in. The second calls for a state homestead bill that would grant owner-occupied houses a partial exemption on property taxes. Click here and here for petitions on those solutions.

Elicker said aldermen and Mayor John DeStefano are talking over their options and he’s optimistic they’ll come up with a consensus, which would then be relayed to the Capitol.

A public meeting on revaluation that the mayor was going to host Tuesday in East Rock has been canceled, Elicker said.

Comments

posted by: Morris Cove Mom on February 25, 2012 11:57pm

I was going to appeal, but realized that over 40 sq ft, I’d have to let these people onto my property and into my home, just to argue more with me. And no matter what I end up paying in property taxes, I will still feel like it is too much anyway. Considering the lack of police presence in my neighborhood and the quality schools and competence in city departments in general. So I can huff and puff about it, or I can try to put my energies elsewhere. I choose elsewhere. I find dealing with the city to be beyond futile.

posted by: Anderson Scooper on February 26, 2012 10:45am

Oh, those poor East Rockers! Desperately trying to find a way to game what is meant to be a straightforward ad Valera tax.

I’ll point out again that the phase-in and freeze following the 2006 reval had repercussions,—with car owners, commercial property, and poorer neighborhoods paying more than their fair share, while folks living in New Haven’s trendiest neighborhoods got a break that I’m not sure they deserved.

What New Haveners collectively should be doing is demanding statewide property tax reform from a Democratic governor who would not have been elected without us. A $50,000 car in Greenwich gets taxed less than $10,000 car in New Haven? A $400,000 home in Madison pays 60% less property tax than a $400,000 home in New Haven?

If we want healthy cities in Connecticut, those types of inequities need to end. The State government needs to incentivize city living, not stand behind a status quo that effectively penalizes us.

posted by: jeffreykerekes on February 26, 2012 10:58am

If your property square footage grew, please contact me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

We are finding a number of properties that have grown in square footage and we are wondering whether it’s systemic. If you have your previous property assessment card (the previous version on vision appraisal) you can compare that with your current listed square footage.

posted by: robn on February 27, 2012 12:07pm

AS,

You’re teasing East Rockers for being angry about excessive taxes while supporting the argument with solid data to that effect? I’m sure most East Rockers would support statewide reform (as well as federal reform), but until then, city government should simply live within its means and tailor its spending so that East Rock (and a couple of other neighborhoods) taxes aren’t wildly excessive and essentially subsidizing the rest of the city.

posted by: Douglas Ledewitz on February 27, 2012 1:04pm

I have noticed that many multi-family properties have grown in square footage too. Some have increased the finished SF on each floor, and others have actually had foundations grow as well according to Vision Appraisal. This does not seem limited to any one area of the city.

posted by: anonymous on February 27, 2012 1:10pm

The only solution is to cut the city budget.

How much can be saved if the city implements an across the board 20% pay cut for all salary + benefit packages in excess of $70K?

The city’s median worker pulls in a tiny fraction of that, and includes few to no benefits, so there’s no need we need to be paying the big bucks. It just creates an imbalance leading to higher and higher rental prices and unaffordable housing.

posted by: Elaine Braffman on February 27, 2012 7:36pm

I just find it hard to believe that anyone’s home in New Haven has gone up in value at this time. Why would it with this economy right now. Although East Rock is a desirable area to live, I still do not believe the value in general of these homes have increased at this time or as much as what is being said and documented by Vision Appraisal. When the economy picks up it will, but not yet. If some homes sold for a decent amount, that is great, but in general I still think that New Haven’s homes have dropped in value for many reasons including East Rock area. I just can’t imagine taxes going up on these folks again and again. These residents and others need some sort of good plan to alleviate this burden. How can anyone expect residents not to consider leaving. It is just too difficult to pay these type of taxes and keep a decent quality of life other than just working.
I completely sympathize with East Rockers and other areas.
And for folks who have retired, wow, very very difficult. I am glad Justin is brain teasing and thinking outside of the box. BOA….. now is the time to try and rescue these home owners. My hat is off to Justin and any other aldermen helping folks anyway possible at this point in time. Thinking outside of the box is a very good thing. Would hate to see more foreclosures because of this.

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