Projected Tax Rate Jumps to 22.51 Mills

The estimated tax rate that goes with First Selectman Ken Flatto's $264 million town budget for 2011-12 jumped to 22.51 mills after town officials based it off the grand list certified by Town Assessor Thomas F. Browne, Jr. and included estimated reductions in property assessments by the town's Board of Assessment Appeals, and estimated increases in senior tax relief.

The previous tax rate tied to the $264 million budget, which heads to the Representative Town Meeting for review on April 25, was 22.36 mills. The adjustment upward amounts to an extra $90 for a resident with a house assessed at $600,000 - from $13,416 to $13,506.

Town Fiscal Officer Paul Hiller said town officials had assumed the grand list, which is the total assessed value of all taxable property in town, would drop by $140 million due to exemptions and informal hearings between residents and Municipal Valuation Services, the Fairfield firm that did the townwide revaluation. But the actual drop was $197.5 million, Hiller said.

Flatto released his proposed $264 million town budget in early February, before Browne certified the grand list on Feb. 28. The tax rate of 22.36 mills that was tied to the proposed town budget in early February wasn't revised upward after Browne certified the grand list at a lower amount. "That list was significantly lower that what we anticipated in January, primarily because of the informal hearings," Hiller said.

Hiller said Monday that the 22.51 mill rate also was only an estimate because the Board of Assessment Appeals hasn't acted on requests from all 600 residents who are challenging their property assessments and town officials don't know how much additional expense is associated with changes to the senior tax relief ordinance that increased tax relief for seniors. He said the Board of Assessment Appeals should be finished with its hearings by the end of this month; the impact on senior tax relief won't be known until mid-May because seniors and totally disabled residents have until May 13 to file an application for the program.

Hiller said town officials are projecting that the Board of Assessment Appeals will chop another $12 million from the certified grand list and that the cost of senior tax relief will increase by $200,000. He said those assumptions are built into the projected tax rate of 22.51 mills.

Hiller said the projection of $12 million coming off the grand list was due to what the Board of Assessment Appeals did five years ago after the previous revaluation, when they cut $19.9 million from the grand list after 900 appeals had been filed. The grand list back then was 10 percent higher and 300 more people had challenged their property assessments, Hiller said. "We could be off on that number," Hiller said of the $12 million projection. "It's an estimate...It's an educated guess."

But the Representative Town Meeting will have the final number from the Board of Assessment Appeals before it votes on the $264 million budget May 2, and the Board of Finance will have it before setting the tax rate for the new fiscal year on May 3, Hiller said.

But the two unknowns that will remain after the Board of Finance sets the new tax rate May 3 are how much additional expense is associated with the town's senior tax relief program and the outcome of 20 appeals filed by commercial property owners, which are bypassing the Board of Assessment Appeals and going directly to court.

As it stands now, a resident with a property assessment of $600,000 pays $11,562 a year in taxes to the town. If that resident's property assessment remained at $600,000 after the townwide revaluation, his tax bill in 2011-12 under the projected tax rate of 22.51 mills would be $13,506, an increase of $1,944, or 16.8 percent.

But most residents saw their property assessments decline after the townwide revaluation. The tax impact in the fiscal year that starts July 1 won't be the same for every resident because property assessments either declined, stayed the same or rose to varying degrees.

To calculate your projected taxes in 2011-12 under the current estimated tax rate of 22.51 mills, divide your property assessment by 1,000 and multiply the resulting figure by 22.51.

So far, the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance have voted on Flatto's recommended $264 million town budget. The finance board made a net cut of $6,985 and trimmed anticipated revenues by $127,207.

The RTM, the final body to vote on the proposed budget, can only cut it.