FY2026 Budget Information

No.  The Town Manager’s Proposed FY2026 Budget of $116,566,274 stands as posted to the Town’s website on March 10th.  There have been and will continue to be updates to clerical oversights; however, the Town Manager’s Proposed FY2026 Budget is the only proposed budget.  After the Town Manager proposes a budget, the proposed budget is with the Town Council until adoption.  The Town Council before considering adoption may request various scenarios before arriving at what they present for approval.

To calculate year one of the four (4) year Phase-In of the 2024 Revaluation results, start by utilizing the information on your 2024 Revaluation Notice to calculate your property value with only 25% of the 2024 Revaluation increase as follows:

Then the formula for calculating your annual real estate taxes is as follows:

Note: For the “Mill Rate” in the formula above you must add the Town’s mill rate to your respective Fire District’s mill rate.

The motor vehicle portion of the grand list is not excluded from the tax levy.  The motor vehicle portion of the grand list is subtracted and added back in to ensure that the tax revenues generated by the Town do not include taxing motor vehicles above the State’s motor vehicle cap.

As referenced on page 14 of the Town Manager’s Proposed FY2026 Budget, in the middle of the page, the motor vehicle tax revenue up to the State’s motor vehicle cap (32.46 mills) in shown in the line “Motor Vehicle Revenue”.  The State’s motor vehicle tax relief grant (the amount above the cap) is one of the components of the line “Estimated Non Tax Revenue”.  

Connecticut law requires municipalities to revalue real property every five years. Connecticut General Statutes permits a municipality, by local option, to phase-in all, or a portion, of real property assessments increases resulting from a revaluation over a period of up to five (5) years.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The primary advantage to phasing in the real property assessments increases resulting from a revaluation is that adjusting real property values to the current market is spread over more than the fiscal year immediately following revaluation.  Phasing in the results of revaluation allows a municipality’s governing body to delay the post revaluation tax burden from the fiscal year immediately following revaluation to the number of years of the phase-in.  

Phasing in delays adjusting real property values to the current market as required every five years and compresses the next revaluation period.  State law requires revaluation every five years (regardless of phase-in) and phasing in extends the implementation of the revaluation, which shortens the effective time between revaluations. 

The grand list includes all taxable real property, personal property, and motor vehicles in the Town.  Real property is the largest component of the grand list.  The State’s Office of Policy & Management calculates and utilizes two primary variations of a municipality’s grand list that include the Equalized Net Grand List and the Adjusted Equalized Net Grand List.  The State utilizes a municipalities grand list in the calculation of grants that a town is entitled to include the following:

• Tiered Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT)
• Education Cost Sharing (ECS)
• Distressed Municipalities Reimbursement
• Increase to Veteran Exemption Amounts

Phasing in the results of a revaluation delays the growth in the grand list and accordingly the State’s use of the grand list in calculating the amount of grants to be received. As municipalities across the state complete their required revaluations, their grand lists grow and communities that phase-in revaluation potentially receive less grants as their grand list growth is delayed resulting in receiving a smaller percentage of the State’s available grant funds.

 Impact(s) on Budget

Phasing in the effects of revaluation does not have any impact on the current fiscal years’ Budget.  Revaluation is utilized in the fiscal year budget immediately following the completion of the revaluation.  The Town’s 2024 Revaluation is the grand list that would normally be used for the FY2026 Budget, with no impact on the FY2025 budget.  Phasing in the 2024 Revaluation would have an impact on FY2026 and FY2027, and may also have an impact on FY2028, FY2029, and FY2030 depending on the number of years that the Town Council may decide to phase-in the results of the 2024 Revaluation.

For example, if a town’s governing body were to decide to phase-in the effects of a revaluation over a four-year period, instead of 100% of the results of the revaluation adjusting the grand list in the year immediately following revaluation, the results would be spread across the number of years to be phased in.  If a four-year phase-in is implemented, 25% of the revaluation results would be applied to each of the grand lists for each of the four fiscal years following revaluation.  The four years of phase-in annual budget development process would be the same as the budget development process for the fiscal year following a revaluation.  In each of the four phase-in years, a town would add the approved phase-in percentage to the grand list and then complete the equalization process that determines the starting mill rate for the next fiscal year’s budget development.   The equalization process adds the revaluation adjustment to the grand list and then determines the mill rate necessary to generate the same tax revenues as the current fiscal year’s budget.  Then the next fiscal year’s budget is developed utilizing the equalized mill rate as the starting point for budget development.