NORWALK, Conn. – Here are some items of interest that were seen or heard recently in Norwalk:
Hamilton: Oh no, we’re not
It isn’t just residents of Rowayton who are crying foul over the preliminary results of the latest round of assessments; residents of Harbor View are feeling the pain as well, as evidenced by this exchange between a Harbor View woman and city officials at a recent meeting:
“I’m feeling that all of the properties in my neighborhood went up,” she said. “I feel like my neighborhood has been unfairly targeted, where at the same time, we are still trying to recover from damage from the hurricane.”
Her “tiny bungalow, built in 1945 with no improvements” had been assessed at a higher value than in the 2008 revaluation, she said.
“Properties of all types may go up,” Tax Assessor Michael Stewart said. “It doesn’t matter how old the property is. A function of the property could strictly be the location that the property finds itself in. While your building may be old and small, it may be sitting on a prime piece of real estate that causes the value of the entire property, not just the building, to appreciate.”
She replied: “It’s a fine piece of property that’s been under the salt water. I know what this is like; I know what salt damage is from salt water,” she said.
Finance Director Thomas Hamilton stepped in.
“The purpose of revaluation is not to target neighborhoods, or to hurt people. The purpose of revaluation is all about trying to ensure that there is equity across all property owners in Norwalk so that everyone is paying their fair share of taxes but not more than their share of taxes,” he said.
Rowayton dynamo fueling Norwalk?
Property taxes were also the mind of a man who yelled at city officials recently at the first Mayor’s Night Out.
“Do you think the taxes are fair here? Have you gone in Darien and seen what taxes are there? How is it half?” said Port Draper, who said he was representing both Wilson Point and Rowayton at the meeting.
His 10 minute rant also included this comment: “Rowayton is like a dynamo, if we didn’t have Rowayton we’d be bankrupt.”
NancyOnNorwalk has since looked into some of the things that were said.
The 2012 grand list year mill rate in Norwalk’s Sixth Taxing District was 20.157, according to the Connecticut Secretary of State’s website. The 2012 grand list year mill rate for Darien was 13.17. Darien taxpayers pay 65.34 percent the rate of Rowayton taxpayers, by that reckoning.
That 20.157 figure includes money collected for the Sixth Taxing District. Hamilton said that if you take that out, the mill rate is 19.131. The district pays 9.5 percent of the city’s taxes, he said.
“For the current fiscal year (FY 2013-14), the net taxable grand list for the 6th District is $1,400,942,637,” he said in an email. “The city mill rate which is charged to all districts for base services (we refer to this as the 5th District mill rate) is 19.131. So, the total city tax levy that is charged to the 6th District is $26,801,434. The entire citywide tax levy is $281,188,439. Therefore, the 6th District pays 9.5 percent of the city’s taxes. This excludes the levy that the 6th District levies upon itself for district services.”
Then there are these minutes from the March 6, 2013, Sixth Taxing District meeting, quoting Commissioner Mike Barbis:
“Mr. Barbis explained that our part of the property tax from the city of Norwalk is 5 percent,” the minutes say. “We have about 1,500 households. That works out to about $950 per household in revenue from property taxes. The average tax bill in the district is $16,000.”
Sold!
Winning the competition for the most expensive real estate transaction in the last two weeks of 2013 in Norwalk is the home at 17 Sammis St., conveyed on Dec. 20 from Christian and Amanda Biggs to Elke Higgins for $1.875 million, according to records in the town clerk’s office.
Most expensive building permit listed in the Code Enforcement office is a tenant fit-up in iPark, a valuation of $1.142 million with $17,436 in fees to Norwalk. That’s for the southeast corner and includes an elevator.
Leave a Reply
You must Register or Login to post a comment.