Property Revaluation 2022
2022 is a revaluation year for the City of Waterbury
The City of Waterbury Assessor’s Office, in consultation with eQuality Valuation Services, LLC, recently completed a State mandated 5-year property revaluation for the purpose of establishing the City’s 2022 Grand List. The Grand List property values will be used in calculating the City’s proposed mill rate for the 2023-2024 budget year, which begins July 1, 2023. While the mill rate will decrease in 2023, many residential property owners will see an increase in their property tax bill due to higher property values and the fact that residential property value growth has significantly outpaced that of commercial property. The City has the option for full implementation of the revaluation or may adopt a multi-year phase-in option.
Full Implementation
Full implementation simply means that once the City’s 2023-2024 budget is approved by the Board of Aldermen, a tax mill rate will be adopted and applied to the new property assessment valued on October 1, 2022. A much lower mill rate would be adopted under a full implementation, however most residential property owners would immediately see a much larger property tax bill when compared with phasing in property value increases. An estimated mill rate of 40 mills has been used to project the 2023-2024 estimated taxes under a full implementation.
Phase-In Implementation
Phase-In implementation allows for the City to phase-in all, or a portion, of real property assessment increases resulting from a revaluation over a period of up to five years. Under an adopted phase-in, the increase in your property assessment would be phased in over a period up to five years as would the overall increase in property taxes. The proposed mill rate of 55.50 mills has been used to project the 2023-2024 estimated taxes under a five-year phase-in. Any decreases in assessment value do not get phased-in.
The City’s Board of Aldermen would be required to approve the decision to provide for a phase-in, the method by which it is accomplished and the number of years. The City’s Board of Aldermen may approve the discontinuance of a phase-in of real property assessment increases resulting from the implementation of a revaluation, at any time prior to the completion of the phase-in term originally adopted. If for some reason residential property values were to drop, the City could implement another revaluation to adjust values accordingly.