Granby Grand List Increases Less Than 1 Percent

The Grand List in Granby rose 0.73 percent over last year, but in light of the economy, town officials say they are encouraged by the growth.

“It’s a little more than I anticipated,” Town Manager William Smith said. “I anticipated close to 0.5 percent but we’re at 0.73 percent, which isn’t too bad.” 

The total net assessment to this year’s Grand List, for the year ending Oct. 1, 2010,  was $1,057,110,120. This amounts to an increase of $7,700,000 over last year’s total, Smith said. 

The Grand List represents the assessed value of all the taxable property in Granby, including the categories of real estate, personal property and motor vehicle. 

Smith explained that the Grand List for the town amounts to a source for the revenue stream, determining how much things are taxed, but added that the stream can fluctuate and go either up or down. 

Much of the increase, Smith said, was due to motor vehicle and real estate, which both went up over last year. Personal property, on the other, went down due to depreciation in value, Smith said. 

“It’s a little bit of encouragement,” Smith said. 

Granby Tax Assessor Susan Altieri agreed. 

“With the economy as it is, I think we were happy to see a .73 percent increase,” she wrote in an e-mail. “There hasn't been a lot of new construction or building going on and we haven't seen the business owners purchasing a lot of new equipment.”

Despite this, Altieri said the one thing that residents continue to purchase are motor vehicles. 

After adjustments are made for funds that might not come in, Smith said the Grand List increase will convert to about $210,000 in new revenue, based on the current tax rate of 29.79 mills. Smith said last year, Granby saw roughly a $175,000 increase.

“The last few years have been relatively small,” he said. 

 Smith pointed out that these figures are before the Board of Assessment Appeals hears any appeals from taxpayers regarding the value of their property.