Grand List Shrinks By $15M

Can someone smarter than I explain how the grand list went down with so much building and even the ownership of taxable land that is on the way to becoming more buildings???

I fear that this is a ruse and a creative way to cook the books ; perhaps to beg for more money from Hartford?

Unless we get off the corporate/govt welfare with all its many strings and requirements, NH can no longer be considered and independent city but merely a ward of Connecticut and Washington, DC.

@AMDC — The Grand List shrunk due to the settlement of Tax Appeals, combined with the $13.6 Million of propertied added to the Tax Exempt List which the article mentions.

It would be great to see a fuller accounting, particularly the info on those properties which were switched to tax exempt, — and how many of them belong to Yale!

The razing of Church Street South meant the loss of about $10 million in value, I wonder if other complexes being razed, Hill Central and Antillean Manor were also taken of the rolls.

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/church_street_south_taxes/

The Residences at Ninth Sqare should have come onto the Grand List, but the alders decided to give it a long term abatement, and take some parking garages and land into city ownership, taking it off the Grand List, too.

It would be interesting if the NHI (or anyone) could provide a report of all the properties in the city receiving tax abatements, and for how long each abatement lasts.

Particularly with all the new large developments in the past 12 years or so it would be interesting to see which received the longest abatements.

Too little, too late. This pre election move is feeble. Toni and the Harpettes have made us poorer and left us in debt. It's time to move. She raised our taxes 11% and gave herself and her friends raises simultaneously. That says it all about Toni----greed without shame.

Her solutions are our dissolution.

I have zero idea of the legality of the following suggestion. Lobby the legislature to allow a municipality to freeze all tax exempt property at the current levels. The city would not issue permits to build or convert any additional property to tax exempt status. this would at least limit the loss.

Total disaster. Anybody that votes to re-elect this administration needs to have their head checked.

What is stopping the State from coming in and taking over the City and putting us out of our misery? Is it Yale? Or is it the crony democrats in Hartford propping up a fellow dem?
We obviously can't find our way out of it. how much more hemorrhaging of money and people has to happen before this is pushed to a solution.

observer: The city tried that when the Alders refused let Yale build new colleges at Grove and Whitney. Yale eventually built taxable offices and housing on the land, after it lay vacant for years. After that, Yale generally built taxable retail into what would be tax-exempt properties, such as The Mellon British Arts Center and the graduate student dorms on Elm Street.
AT: The $13 million increase in tax-exempt property doesn't necessarily mean loss of taxable property, Yale has been doing a lot of building on land that is already off the tax rolls, such as the replacement for Gibbs Hall on Science Hill/Sachem Woods.

I wish elections were in July. We need a new mayor right now. Unfortunately the "Dem Committee" doesn't meet until the end of JULY when they choose who to support, Justin or Toni.

AT, I doubt that the grand list shrank due to the addition of $13.6 million in tax-exempt property. I'm not aware of any large properties that were taken off the tax rolls (I assume there were some smaller ones). Rather, the non-profit sector continues to grow. This provides some jobs, but does not help with taxes.

Yes, Mr. McCarthy. It is for the hapless working tax payers in NH to fund "non-profits" that benefit needy folk and enrich their masters (Non-profit doesn't mean that officers don't make LOTS of money).

NH will be happy to bear the burden of every worthy /needy/person/group/ cause till we collapse under the taxes. Then, the City will also collapse or be bought at fire sale prices by Yale. It's a matter of time, I'm afraid.

The grand list is made up of taxable real property, taxable personal property, and taxable motor vehicles. You can have an increase in new high end rentals coming online but if a manufacturer moves a 10 million dollar piece of equipment out of the city, we lose the taxes on 70 percent of that "value". Or, if residents decide to keep their cars longer and not buy new vehicles, or not register them in New Haven, the city losses tax revenue.

I love having my 2007 and 2010 cars, for example. My car taxes are like $200 each Per year because the city assesses each at their fair market value which is like $4000. Thanks to all of you driving around in new luxury cars.

These are complex issues. We will never fix things by focusing on the revenue side. Revenue is pretty stable year to year. We will fix things by focusing on the money going out. It's not magic. It's just hard and painful.

I'd suffer through 5 years of pain if we get New Haven's finances fixed permanently. I think most homeowners would. Our leaders, elected and not, don't have the will or inclination to make those hard choices. Or just to say that we've made unsustainable promises and we're going to break our promises for the good of the city going forward and to avoid insolvency and state takeover. It's going to happen one day and the longer we just keep kicking the can down the road the more pfuked we will be.

The first line of this article reminds me of this oldie but goodie.

Prison Population Growing Although Crime Rate Drops
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/09/us/prison-population-growing-although-crime-rate-drops.html

The city administration is leading by example. Many people in New Haven are not taught how to stand on their own two feet but how to look for the next handout. The administration does the same thing by looking to the state. Who pays for it all.....we do!