Wilton Seeks Delay In Property Revaluation

WILTON, CT - From The Town of Wilton: At their meeting on Monday, January 8, 2017, the Board of Selectmen voted to postpone the implementation of the October 1, 2017 revaluation for one year.

Following the retirement of the Town’s Assessor mid-revaluation, Town CFO Anne Kelly-Lenz conducted an assessment of the status of the revaluation. Her review included discussions with the Town’s consultants and area Town Assessors. She determined there was insufficient time for a new Assessor to accurately complete the revaluation within the statutory time requirements. In addition, due to the large number of expected appeals, it was anticipated the Board of Assessment Appeals would not be able to complete their work within the statutory time requirements. Ms. Kelly-Lenz recommended the Town to seek a postponement of the implementation of the revaluation as is allowed under State statutes. First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice and Board of Assessment Appeals Chair Don Drummond supported her recommendation and the Board of Selectmen voted accordingly.

As per state statutes, the Town will:

· Request that State Representative Gail Lavielle submit a bill, in the current year’s legislative session, to delay the implementation of the revaluation until the October 1, 2018 grand list. Such a request/bill is not unusual, though the timing of when an approval would be received is uncertain.
· File an application with the OPM Secretary for a waiver of penalties for not implementing the revaluation as scheduled. This application can be filed no earlier than 30 days after the October 1, 2017 grand list is filed. The grand list must be filed by February 28, 2018.
· Request that the OPM Secretary approve a 12-month one year postponement of implementation due to the Board of Assessment Appeals’ inability to complete the expected level of appeals within the statutory deadlines. Although this request is normally made once the appeals have been filed, we feel we have sufficient evidence already to expect an unusually high level of appeals, . One, based on the number inquiries received to date and the great potential for errors if adequate time is not allowed to complete the revaluation steps noted below. Should the Secretary approve this request, Legislative approval would no longer be necessary, but this request would be completely discretionary with the Secretary, and the more traditional route appears to be the legislative approval

If a one-year extension is granted on the revaluation, tT he grand list values to be used for FY2019 property taxes would remain be the October 1, 2016 grand list updated for 2017 additions. Any property owner, who identified errors in their field card as part of the revaluation mailer, can appeal their October 1, 2017 assessment. Requests for appeals are due on March 20, 2018. Appeal hearings will be held during April 2018.

Revaluation is a complicated process with multiple steps which include the development of an October 1, 2017 grand list before revaluation and a revalued October 1, 2017 grand list. The revaluation processes include:

· The inspection and valuation of residential property with assistance provided by Vision Governmental Solutions and consultant appraisers. The Town Assessor is responsible for then reviewing each property valuation to determine agreement with such. This review includes a statistical analysis of the Vision data and the assessor’s adjustments for market values in Wilton. Various areas of the Town must be individually analyzed.

· Valuation of commercial properties.
· Notification to property owners of their new valuation.
· Pre-appeal meetings with property owners to review their valuations. Held by Vision Governmental Solutions personnel and the Assessor.
· Filing of a preliminary Revaluation Grand list with the Town Clerk State
· Filing of requests for appeal hearings by property owners
· Board of Assessment Appeals conducting such hearings and rendering appeal decisions

For questions, please contact Wilton Town CFO Anne Kelly-Lenz at Anne.Kelly-Lenz@wiltonct.org

Photo by Étienne Beauregard-Riverin via Unsplash