Greater Hartford Real Estate Blog

Now that the West Hartford budget has been amended and the mill rate has been set at 38.63, many are wondering how they will calculate their property taxes. One thing to keep in mind is that they will be based on a 5 year phase in if your assessment from 2005 to 2006 increased by more than 25%. Let’s do a quick example and hopefully this will help…

Let’s say your 2005 property assessment was $100,000 and your 2006 property assessment was $200,000, so a 100% increase. Your taxes for this year will be based on 1.25 times your 2005 assessment. So,

$100,000 x 1.25 = $125,000

then multiply this by the mill rate to get your taxes

$125,000 x .03863 = $4,828.75 = your tax bill for this year

But what happens in the next 4 years? Well, the difference between your 2006 assessment and the 1.25 amount you’re using this year will be dispersed over the next 4 years. So,

$200,000 - $125,000 = $75,000 / 4 = $18,750

In this example, your taxes for 2007 will be based on the assessment amount of

$125,000 + $18,750 = $143,750

Your taxes for 2008 will be based on the assessment amount of

$143,750 + $18,750 = $162,500

Your taxes for 2009 will be based on the assessment amount of

$162,500 + $18,750 = $181,250 and finally

Your taxes for 2010 will be based on the assessment amount of

$181,250 + $18,750 = $200,000

Presumably the mill rate will go DOWN over the next 4 years, so that as your assessment value rises, your taxes don’t go through the roof. Because no one wants to see a mass exodus out of West Hartford.

If you have questions on any of this, please call or email me, I’d be happy to help explain it more thoroughly, (860) 655-2125 or bergquista@raveisre.com.

In West Hartford, the prospect of the Blue Back Square development drew a lot of attention from town residents concerned about a variety of issues; traffic, Big Box expansion, the death of other retail centers in town, etc. In the end, the lure of more tax revenue, additional upscale housing, and a revitalization of a blighted area of town won out. As we all know, Blue Back is well under way and over the next few years we will see the results, both positive and negative.

Now it seems that Simsbury is going to have a similar story with the proposed Simsbury River Oaks development, an upscale, mixed-use neighborhood that Konover Development Corporation would like to build on Route 10 near the Avon town line. This development was recently brought to my attention by a flurry of articles in the Hartford Courant and signs that I’ve seen in Simsbury resident’s yards as I’ve been showing buyers around town.

You can learn all about the proposed 60-acre project by visiting Konover’s River Oaks website. I would recommend looking at the PDF files on “The Project” page. They contain some interesting detailed site plans.

At this point, Konover has only submitted their development application to the town of Simsbury. It will obviously take several months to get through the various stages of approval (if it is ultimately approved), but it will be an interesting process to watch. I’ll give updates every now and then. The main questions I have at this point are…

- Will Route 10 be able to handle the additional traffic generated by River Oaks?
- Will this new development cannibalize business in the surrounding retail areas in Avon and Canton?
- Does this additional development in suburbia continue to hurt Hartford’s efforts with revitalization?

This Wednesday evening begins Elizabeth Park’s free summer concert series. Stop by with a blanket and picnic at 6:30PM to enjoy the sounds of the swing group Eight to the Bar…

It’s also still a great time to take in the roses if you missed the Rose Weekend this past Saturday and Sunday.