The town last week received a civil summons from the owners of a Ponus Ridge home, seeking a reduced assessment of their property.
Filed May 2 on behalf of the owners of 1480 Ponus Ridge by attorneys at Stamford-based Wofsey, Rosen, Kweskin & Kuriansky, LLP, the citation calls for town officials to appear later this month in state Superior Court in Stamford.
According to the legal notice, the property’s owners had sought “relief against a wrongful assessment of real property for taxation” but no change in valuation was made after appearing before the Board of Assessment Appeals.
Town records show that 77 property owners appeared before the board through four hearings in March.
The Ponus Ridge homeowners’ property—a nearly 10,000-square-foot, 2007-built home on 3.24 acres—was valued at about $6.6 million, meaning its assessed value (70 percent of that figure) was about $4.6 million following an Oct. 1, 2016 Grand List valuation.
“The applicant is aggrieved by the doings of the assessor and board,” according to the appeal.
The homeowners are seeking a “true and actual” valuation, reimbursement for overpayment of taxes and “further relief as to which the applicant may be awarded in law or equity,” the appeal said.
The town now is working toward what’s known as a “statistical revaluation” of real property in New Canaan for Oct. 1, 2018. It means that, rather than entering residents’ properties to help determine home values—an expensive and time-consuming process that’s required by state law every 10 years—the assessor’s work involves studying home sales, market trends and permits issued for new construction in New Canaan.
This house is currently for sale for $5.5 after starting at $6.75 last year, so I guess their argument is if they can’t sell it even at that price then its not worth $6.6.