Connecticut Real Estate Tax Update
It is always important to carefully review your tax bill and/or notices of assessments, but even more so in the year in which your city or town conducts a revaluation. Connecticut municipalities are preparing for the assessment year commencing October 1, 2026, commonly referred to as the October 1, 2026, Grand List, and many are conducting revaluations this year.
Connecticut law requires that each municipality conduct a general revaluation of the real estate within its borders at least once every five years. Given the passage of Connecticut Public Act 22-74, the State’s Revaluation Schedule has shifted slightly with the creation of five (5) new Revaluation Zones which purportedly allows for the coordination of revaluations services and provides a mechanism to create efficiency and municipal cost savings. This new law does not change the fact municipalities must conduct revaluations in Connecticut every five years, however the result is that some municipal revaluations are a year shorter or longer to transition into the new schedule.
The purpose of a revaluation is for a municipality to determine the market value of real estate to be used to calculate property taxes. A property’s assessment is 70 percent of its fair market value as of the October 1 revaluation date.
Each assessment should be carefully reviewed, even if your assessment has not increased substantially, as an appeal immediately after a revaluation maximizes a property owner’s potential tax savings.
Once a property’s value is set in a general revaluation, it remains constant over the entire five-year cycle, absent appeal, demolition, improvements or expansion. Of course, the annual taxes usually increase, as a municipality’s mill rate increases incrementally from year to year. Municipalities across the State are on differing revaluation cycles. The following is a list of Connecticut municipalities conducting revaluations this year:
Municipality Revaluation Schedule Effective October 1, 2023 Pursuant to Public Act 22-74Ansonia2026Bridgewater2026Brookfield2026Colchester2026Columbia2026Cornwall2026East Hartford2026East Haven2026East Lyme2026Easton2026Enfield2026Farmington2026Griswold2026Groton2026Guilford2026Hartford2026Hebron2026Killingworth2026Lisbon2026Manchester2026Middlefield2026Montville2026New Haven2026Newtown2026Orange2026Plainville2026Portland2026Salem2026Vernon2026Waterford2026West Hartford2026Westbrook2026If your municipality is conducting a general revaluation for the October 1, 2026, Grand List, you soon will receive a notice of tax assessment change.
Once the notices are issued, there may be a chance to meet informally with the assessor to discuss the new assessment, which should represent 70 percent of the fair market value of your real estate. However, if a property owner wishes to challenge the assessment formally, a written appeal must be filed with the local Board of Assessment Appeals by the February 20, 2027, statutory deadline.
It is in your best interests to be proactive in monitoring the revaluation process and your new assessment so that you can take all necessary steps to ensure the assessment is equitable.
If you need more information or assistance with Connecticut revaluations, our Commercial Real Estate Practice Group stands ready to help. Please contact attorney Nicholas W. Vitti Jr. at (203) 653 -5435 and nvitti@harrisbeachmurtha.com; attorney Joseph D. Szerejko at (860) 240-6186 and jszerejko@harrisbeachmurtha.com; or the Harris Beach Murtha attorney with whom you most frequently work.
This alert is not a substitute for advice of counsel on specific legal issues.
Harris Beach Murtha’s lawyers and consultants practice from offices throughout Connecticut in Bantam, Hartford, New Haven and Stamford; New York State in Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Ithaca, New York City, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Saratoga Springs, Syracuse, Long Island and White Plains; as well as in Boston, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and Newark, New Jersey.
Harris Beach Murtha is the exclusive member firm in Connecticut for the American Property Tax Counsel (APTC) – the only organization of law firms providing major portfolio owners with a single source for their property tax reporting and tax reduction needs. Nicholas W. Vitti Jr. and Joseph D. Szerejko are the APTC representatives for Connecticut from Harris Beach Murtha.