Leaving West Hartford?
Yesterday the weather was perfect for a winter open house. Pretty much a spring day in February. My sellers in the West End of Hartford had some good traffic come through their homes, with lots of people seriously looking.
I had some good conversations with the various buyers and I noticed an interesting trend emerging. Of the 23 groups of people that visited my open house, 8 were from West Hartford. Every one of them indicated that they are upset with the high taxes in West Hartford and are looking to relocate to the West End of Hartford because they can get more house for the money and enjoy lower taxes. The buyers were families with children in the West Hartford public schools and Hartford magnet schools, families with children in private schools, familes with children not yet old enough to be in school, young couples, and a retiree.
A few of the families mentioned that they’re rapidly outgrowing their current West Hartford homes but both the housing prices and subsequent taxes associated with a “move up” home made the monthly housing payments financially unaffordable to them. So they’re starting to explore Hartford because they realize they can get a lot more for their money. The average price per square foot in West Hartford last year was $175/square foot, versus $127/square foot in the West End of Hartford. Taxes can also be significantly different. For example, the $5,500 annual taxes on my 3,200 square foot West End home would run me anywhere from approximately $8,000 to $10,000 on a comparable home in West Hartford.
There always seems to be a lot of debate about budgets in West Hartford, perhaps this is some early evidence of people voting with their feet. Thoughts?
How abnormal is this? The tax situation is hardly a new one, at least in terms of there being a disparity between WH and Hartford. We had West End homes on our list when we were looking, too, though I didn’t want to live that far away from the center.
How did you get the increase in your taxes, by the way, between Hartford and West Hartford? I thought the mill rate in Hartford was nearly 20 points higher?
Based on all of the open houses I’ve run in the West End, I’ve never seen this before. Sure, I’ll have a few people/families here and there that stop in, but nothing like I saw yesterday.
Hartford and West Hartford do have very different mill rates, 68.34 and 36.97 respectively. The difference is that Hartford taxes based on 38% of the assessment value versus 70% used in West Hartford and most of the towns in the state.
ok, that makes sense.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years. Taxes are high in West Hartford, especially compared to some of our immediate neighbors. For what it’s worth, as one of the links you’ve got up there, I’ve never argued against that. My concern is singular, which is that the debate is usually held dishonestly. Between the name calling and general meanness (for lack of a better term), I just don’t care anymore.
Certainly, the debate isn’t constructive enough to enact real solutions. So, we’re going to need to see if people leave. Perhaps then we can actually start on solutions.
Sujal
I’m sure neighboring towns are seeing West Hartford people too. But I would also argue that West Hartford is seeing people from neighboring towns (say, The Valley) that also have very high taxes, may not want to drive so far, and may actually want a smaller house (as if!). People just shuffle around based on their current needs.
yeah, that’s basically what I was trying to say, sorry. I mean, if it’s an exodus, that will show up pretty quickly. If it’s a shuffle, then whatevs.
Sujal
This is a little off topic but Amy, your comment about Hartford’s (specifically the West End’s) property taxes got me thinking. My understanding is that the City of Hartford receives a much larger proportion of it’s operating income from the State (vs. WH or other towns). If this is true then CT tax payers outside of Hartford are paying to keep Hartford’s taxes artifically low. If Amy’s house would pay almost twice in WH or “the valley” how is that equitable? I’m not saying Hartford shouldn’t receive a higher proportion of state dollars than other towns but should it receive what seems like an amount to keep taxes significantly lower than other towns (especially when they offer more service to its residents)?
You’re right, Bob, Hartford does receive a lot help from the State. The adopted budget for 2008-2009 shows $247 million of the $547 million total revenue (45.2%) is expected to come from “Intergovernmental Revenues.”
The standard argument that the City puts forth to justify the aid, and in fact lobby for more, is that a large percentage of Hartford’s land is exempt from local taxation. The City cannot tax government property, educational institutions, hospitals, religious institutions or charitable organizations, among other exempted classes. This recent press release states that 46% of the Hartford Grand List is tax exempt.
Another complicating factor is that Hartford is in the process of both phasing-in a new assessment and reversing a assessment surcharge that is in place on non-residential property. The likely result will be a shift in the tax burden from businesses to homeowners, though it will hopefully also encourage business growth.
Those are the facts, but the meat of the question is about fairness. And fairness is often a very subjective quality.
The West End is not representative of Hartford as a whole. Perhaps the reason the taxes seem unfairly low is that there is a single tax calculation used throughout the city.
What would be the impact of bringing Hartford taxes up to parity with other towns? Much of the housing stock in Hartford is multifamily residential, so rents would have to go up for all the tenants. From a socio-economic point of view, Hartford is a much less affluent town than its neighbors. Would the residents be able to afford higher rent (which would in theory now be comparable to West Hartford rent)? Would it force residents into government assistance? Would it force residents to move to other towns?