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10/25/2016 12:00 AMEvery five years, every town in Connecticut is required to perform revaluation of properties, a reval, and East Haven is now in that process. The assessor’s office is now in the process of gathering data on sales from Oct. 1, 2015 to Oct. 1, 2016, not including forced or auctioned sales.
“We’re looking to see if there are changes in value, shifts in value in neighborhoods, or market trends that may be occurring,” said Mike Milici, the town’s assessor. “This will be the basis for people’s taxes for the next five years, so that’s why it’s very important that they take this seriously.”
Residents will receive a two-part document in the mail by the end of the month. The first part will include the new assessment and the former assessment for comparison, as well as instructions for how to proceed if there is a disagreement.
If residents disagree with their new assessment values, they can make an appointment with eQuality Valuation Services, LLC, the company that won the bid to perform the revaluation via email or phone with hearings at the Hagaman Memorial Library on specific dates through mid-November.
“If residents truly disagree and don’t feel they can get [the assessed value] for their house, I strongly encourage them to schedule a hearing,” said Milici. “It’s a fair process and there will be representatives to explain sales for a particular neighborhood.”
The second section of the mailer pertains to the details of each resident’s home. The data mailer will include information such as square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and more.
“This is critical and we need the residents to take five minutes to check it,” said Milici. “Residents should not treat it like a piece of junk mail—if there’s any mistakes, we want to know about it.”
In 2021, the assessor’s office will again be required to perform a reval, though in five years, it will be a physical reval where representatives from a hired company will visit each residence, reviewing what is listed.
Milici noted that with the “condition of the market,” many residents will see their property values decreasing. Many of the condominium complexes have also gone down in value.
“There are areas that have held value, but generally speaking, we’ll see it going down,” said Milici. “This creates a situation we don’t want because your asset has depreciated, but your responsibility for taxes has not. We’ll be looking at a lower grand list to figure out mill rate for town’s expenses, but if the Grand List goes down, the mill rate most likely goes up.”
Dispute Hearing Dates
Hearings will be held at the Hagaman Memorial Library on the following dates. Contact information to arrange a hearing was not set at press time, but will be included on the forms sent out by the Assessor’s Office.
Monday, Nov. 7 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 8 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 9 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 10 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 12 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 14 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 15 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 16 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 17 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 18 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.