For What It May Be Worth

Two of the Connecticut General Assembly's most influential committees are holding public hearings this week on the following property tax bills of note:

Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee - February 26, 2025

• Senate Bill No. 738 - a concept bill that proposes a homestead property tax exemption for owner-occupied single-family dwellings in the amount of $50,000 of assessed value (which equates to $71,429 of fair market value).  If passed, the effect will be to shift taxes onto commercial properties which are not entitled to the exemption.  It will also make the property tax system more complicated.
• Senate Bill No. 741 - a concept bill that proposes to create a first-ever incremental state-wide property tax for residential properties with an assessed value of more than $3,000,000 (which equates to a fair market value of $4,285,714).  This tax, which would be in addition to the regular property taxes imposed on impacted properties, begins at 2 mills and steps up to 4 mills as the value of the property increases.  This would represent a tax increase on more affluent residents who are already paying a very large share of State taxes.  It could also negatively impact property values.  Versions of this legislation have failed in prior legislative sessions.
• House Bill No. 6804 - a concept bill that would "eliminate any property tax exemption applicable to faculty or staff housing at private secondary educational institutions".  This is the latest in what has been an annual effort by some legislators to strip educational institutions of long-standing property tax exemptions.

Planning and Development Committee - February 28, 2025

• House Bill No. 7001 - a detailed bill that would create a new law requiring municipal assessors to "consider" the cost, income and comparable sales approaches to value in assessing "retail sales facilities" which are defined as structures "used to serve customers who are physically present at such structure for the purpose of selecting and purchasing goods at retail or renting tangible personal property."  The bill spells out in additional detail what types of sales should be considered in the comparable sales approach.  An assessor's consideration of only one or two of the three approaches to value in developing an assessment for this property type would not comply with the proposed law.  The bill mirrors the practice followed by independent real estate appraisers.  It is not clear at this time why the bill only applies to retail sales facilities as defined and does not specifically include the land under the facilities.

Those interested in submitting written testimony on these bills can do so through the General Assembly's website at www.cga.ct.gov.