(Opinion) If the guy in the old Crazy Eddie commercials took a look at how New Haven is taxing — or not taxing — the gold-rush speculators snapping up property, you know what he’d scream.
“This is in-sa-a-a-ane!!!”
He would take one look at the money an out-of-town investor just paid to buy the old Ann Taylor building: $2.785 million. Then he’d look at what New Haven decided the property is worth for purposes of taxing it: just $1.6 million. Poof: There goes more than $1 million in value New Haven has decided not to tax, so local taxpayers can foot the bill instead for a speculator’s profits.
In-sa-a-a-ane!
Or he’d look at the recent sale of the old SNET/Frontier building at 310 Orange St. A New Jersey investor decided it’s worth $73.8 million. That was what he paid for it. New Haven’s recent reassessment decided the property is worth … $26.88 million. That’s the appraised value the new owner is paying on it. Poof: There goes $45 million that we’re footing the bill for to help a speculator make a killing on New Haven’s real estate boom.
In-sa-a-a-a-ane!
This has been happening month after month, for years, as documented in the Independent’s Tom Breen’s regular round-up of real estate sales in town. New Haven is leaving tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars off the table that it could be taxing. Meaning out-of-town speculators reap the benefits of a boom we created and pay for.
At first we were told: That’s because assessments haven’t caught up with real prices, which rose fast.
But then the city did its regular reassessment — and it’s still happening.
That’s because cities make choices about which methods to use to come up with the valuations on which it bases tax assessments. New Haven continues to use a complex formula instead of a straight-ahead comparison of what comparable properties have actually been selling for.
Perhaps it’s time to … reassess?
Other boom news is more hopeful. For instance, building can now start on a new-urbanist community to rise on the grave of the former New Haven Coliseum. An awesome Tibetan restaurant has moved from Middletown to New Haven’s Chapel Street, with a full column of the menu devoted to sublime vegan dishes. George Edwards outlasted — by more than five decades — the feds and fellow Panthers who torture, locked up, and tried to kill him. And — boo! — Halloween has hit the campaign trail.
Click on the video at the top of this story for commentary on those and other local news story direct from the Independent assignment desk — er, my compost heap.
And click on the below videos to watch some memorable Jerry Carroll/Crazy Eddie commercials, as well as other recent editions of News From The Compost Heap.
“But then the city did its regular reassessment — and it’s still happening.
That’s because cities make choices about which methods to use to come up with the valuations on which it bases tax assessments. New Haven continues to use a complex formula instead of a straight-ahead comparison of what comparable properties have actually been selling for.
Perhaps it’s time to … reassess?”