For What It May Be Worth

Senate Bill No. 1556 has been introduced proposing to create a new Connecticut Appeals Board for Property Valuation (the “Board”).  If the bill is adopted, the Board would be constituted this year to hear appeals from the actions of municipal assessors across Connecticut beginning with the October 1, 2025 Grand List.  Once the Board is constituted, it appears that local Boards of Assessment Appeals will be out of business.

Other notable features of the bill include:

• The Board would be created within the State Office of Policy and Management “for administrative purposes only.”
• The Board would consist of five full-time members, all required to have significant experience in “the appraisal or assessment of real and personal property.”
• An application for relief to the Board would need to be made within two months of the disputed action of the municipal assessor.
• Such an appeal would be an “original proceeding and heard de novo by said [B]oard.”
• All appeals to the Board would be the subject of a hearing, with the Board required to issue its decision (including its findings and conclusions of law) within 90 days after the hearing.
• A decision of the Board could be appealed to Superior Court within two months.
• The Board would be obliged to adopt regulations that would establish requirements for its “operational processes.”

This proposed legislation was the subject of a public hearing before the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee on April 14, 2025.  The bill is reminiscent of an effort in 1987 to create a similar appeals board with the same name (Public Act No. 87-404, codified at Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 12-121aa, et seq.).  That board was never constituted or funded and the authorizing legislation was eventually repealed in 1995.