The New Canaan real estate property revaluation has raised the value of condominiums by an average of 9 percent, counter to the town-wide Grand List decline of 7 percent. This 16 percent delta, plus an anticipated mill rate increase, will surely increase property taxes on condos by 20 to 25 percent.
Condos are owned by seniors. At Prides Crossing, more than 90 percent of units are owned by residents older than 65, and 50 percent are single. The revaluation will increases the monthly (tax) carrying cost by at least $200 per month for our smallest unit.
In the condo market, monthly increases in expenses directly correlate to lower market sales and values. So, the effect of the revaluation will be more tax revenue for the Town of New Canaan and reduced home equity for condo owners.
This is a very nasty, targeted, aggressive abuse of New Canaan’s seniors. I hope it is an unintentional oversight that will be corrected, rather than a calculated political maneuver.
If the condo revaluation stands, it could change the long term demographic profile of New Canaan. And, that would be sad.
Bill Murphy
President
Prides Crossing HOA
Although there is plenty of room to cut spending in our town that will benefit taxpayers (we have the highest debt per resident and second highest spending per resident of 169 towns in CT), I do not believe that specific groups are being targeted for “abuse” in the reval.
The reality of our town is that over the last five years high-end properties have seen a larger decline in values than lesser-valued properties, in-town properties, and condos. In the latter categories, many property assessments went higher.
According to the town assessor, the average decline among taxable properties with assessments under $1 mm was 1.6%. This group represents over 60% of all taxable properties in the town. That means that the average property tax increase for those owning properties under $1 mm in assessment will likely be ~7% unless our town reps start making fiscally conservative decisions on spending (you get to ~7% by adding -1.6% average increase plus 1% town operating budget increase plus ~8% increase in the mill rate to offset the Grand List decline). There may be some one time factors that make the mill rate increase slightly less but it will just float up again next year given the non-recurrence of some savings.
The degree of increases in tax burden that many residents like Bill will experience is a huge issue politically and substantively in my view. These increases can be mitigated by getting real on spending. If anyone wants a list of where some expense reductions are readily available please email me at jdb435@nyu.edu. Write to our reps about the need for spending declines or speak up at public forums. Writing or saying nothing has the equivalent impact of condoning wasteful and inefficient spending patterns in our town.