1 00:00:00,620 --> 00:00:28,460 Properties. We have to do this. This is state statute requires all the towns to have evaluation of all properties. And they set up a schedule in the last few years, and this is the mandated year for Hamden. There are 25 other municipalities that are also going through this process. A few of our neighbors North Haven being one of them. 2 00:00:28,460 --> 00:00:40,180 And so it's important that we have a very fair assessment of all properties and it's important that it's fair because everyone has to contribute. 3 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:53,040 And I want everyone to understand that while we know that the housing market has been pretty hot lately, it is an opportunity for us to bring down the mill rate. 4 00:00:53,040 --> 00:01:06,120 And so, temper your surprise, frustration, whatever emotion it is that you're feeling when you open up your letter, understand that the middle rate will come down. 5 00:01:06,420 --> 00:01:17,900 And the current middle rate that you see is not the appropriate calculation in determining what your taxes will be given the appraisal for this next grand list. 6 00:01:17,900 --> 00:01:32,520 So, tonight's presentation will be from John. He's from Tyler Technologies. He's given another presentation at Keith and he did a really wonderful job, I think, of explaining the process. 7 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:40,300 So, there will be two presentations. The first one will be an overview of the reveal. 8 00:01:40,300 --> 00:01:48,200 And the second piece, if you've had enough of the first meeting, you're more than welcome to leave. 9 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:53,860 No one will feel like they've done a terrible job or it was too boring. 10 00:01:54,500 --> 00:01:55,920 But the second one will be boring. 11 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:01,040 So if you would like to leave before the second meeting, you're more than welcome to. 12 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:08,300 You're also more than welcome to stay and see the algorithm and how the each property is calculated. 13 00:02:09,460 --> 00:02:14,920 But there will be a little tiny break in between so that if you want to leave, you can do that. 14 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:22,500 Okay. All right. So, so Gida is our, our, our Fraser for the town. 15 00:02:22,740 --> 00:02:27,120 I'm sorry, our chief assessor. And then we have John here from Tyler Technologies. 16 00:02:27,980 --> 00:02:30,740 So, so he's going to give us a presentation. Okay. 17 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:39,520 So, it's a mayor indicated. I'm John Valenti. I'm the Northeast Regional Manager for Tyler Technologies. 18 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:44,000 I work in the area throughout New England as well as in the New York State area. 19 00:02:44,540 --> 00:02:46,800 I've been doing this for 45 years. 20 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,100 I had dinner with my wife tonight at the Hamden Townhouse, and I was sitting there thinking 21 00:02:51,100 --> 00:02:53,860 I've done these hundreds and hundreds of times. 22 00:02:54,820 --> 00:02:56,760 So it doesn't necessarily mean I know a lot. 23 00:02:56,860 --> 00:02:59,320 It just means I've been around a long time. 24 00:02:59,820 --> 00:03:01,020 So I'm kind of old. 25 00:03:01,500 --> 00:03:03,280 But I'm going to walk you through the process tonight. 26 00:03:03,820 --> 00:03:07,640 If you have questions, don't hesitate to speak up. 27 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:10,940 They'll be a microphone if you want to speak to the mic that would be helpful. 28 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:16,400 This meeting is being recorded for future broadcast rather folks to listen to. 29 00:03:18,270 --> 00:03:21,810 These are the folks that are working on your project. I'm going to give you an idea of who they are. 30 00:03:23,130 --> 00:03:27,130 Celine, who is the project manager here. Has been doing this for over 38 years. 31 00:03:28,730 --> 00:03:33,930 Drew, who did our commercial and residential modeling for the town. Has been doing this for 32 00:03:33,930 --> 00:03:39,670 For 25 years, James worked on, as well as the appraiser, and he also managed our field 33 00:03:39,670 --> 00:03:40,410 crew. 34 00:03:40,830 --> 00:03:42,550 I have been doing this for 20 years. 35 00:03:42,770 --> 00:03:46,810 David Bost has been doing this for about 40 years, and Matt's been around for about 36 00:03:46,810 --> 00:03:48,170 10 years doing data entry. 37 00:03:48,770 --> 00:03:51,410 See, you've had a staff working on Hamden who's well-season. 38 00:03:51,670 --> 00:03:53,930 There are not new people who have not been experienced. 39 00:03:54,610 --> 00:03:58,730 I also want you to know that the folks who worked in your project who did any appraiser work 40 00:03:58,730 --> 00:04:00,750 are certified by the State of Connecticut. 41 00:04:00,750 --> 00:04:07,250 It's required in the state of Connecticut that we're certified by the Office of Policy and Management to do our work. 42 00:04:07,410 --> 00:04:13,030 It's a series of exams that we take plus a series of classes that we take to adhere to that certification. 43 00:04:15,070 --> 00:04:17,450 So tonight we're going to talk about what is a reassessment? 44 00:04:18,650 --> 00:04:19,670 What's the process? 45 00:04:20,770 --> 00:04:26,230 And the change notice and hearings, which is about the phase that we're about ready to begin with. 46 00:04:26,230 --> 00:04:31,110 The data value is October 1st, 2024. 47 00:04:32,230 --> 00:04:36,250 In Connecticut, the data value is always October 1st, 48 00:04:36,330 --> 00:04:39,150 and it occurs each year for every time there's a reassessment. 49 00:04:39,550 --> 00:04:40,930 So this is our data value. 50 00:04:41,590 --> 00:04:44,610 So the question that I'm faced with, 51 00:04:44,670 --> 00:04:48,470 and Sajida, and Suleam, as well as you, 52 00:04:49,110 --> 00:04:51,090 is what is your house worth 53 00:04:51,090 --> 00:04:53,870 as of October 1st, 2024, 54 00:04:53,870 --> 00:05:01,470 or in another way to put it, what would you sell your house for on October 1st, 2024? 55 00:05:02,270 --> 00:05:09,210 That's the question that I have to answer, Sagita, Celine, and you folks about your 56 00:05:09,210 --> 00:05:14,270 property. That's the essence of the assessment. There are three key points I want to 57 00:05:14,270 --> 00:05:19,130 make with you tonight that you need to remember and the mayor talked about this earlier. 58 00:05:19,130 --> 00:05:28,030 The whole point of a reassessment is to create equity, accuracy, and fairness between property owners. 59 00:05:28,750 --> 00:05:30,990 That's the key three points of a reassessment. 60 00:05:32,570 --> 00:05:36,310 So why do we need a reassessment that the mayor touched upon some of this? 61 00:05:36,410 --> 00:05:39,090 It's been four years since the last reassessment. 62 00:05:39,690 --> 00:05:42,530 And what's happened is that values have changed and consistently. 63 00:05:43,250 --> 00:05:45,310 Some neighborhoods have gone up more than others. 64 00:05:45,670 --> 00:05:48,550 Some styles of houses have gone up more than others. 65 00:05:48,550 --> 00:05:50,470 some have come down differently. 66 00:05:51,070 --> 00:05:55,310 So because of inconsistent changes to create equity and fairness, 67 00:05:55,890 --> 00:05:56,830 you do a reassessment. 68 00:05:58,070 --> 00:06:01,290 The other earrings and is this thing called unequal assessments. 69 00:06:02,070 --> 00:06:04,650 Over time, if you've got two identical homes, 70 00:06:05,350 --> 00:06:08,510 and one of them changes, and the other one doesn't, 71 00:06:08,730 --> 00:06:11,570 the assessors become unequal if they don't report building 72 00:06:11,570 --> 00:06:13,250 permit information to the community. 73 00:06:13,630 --> 00:06:15,210 So there's new information that's collected. 74 00:06:15,210 --> 00:06:20,950 And it's important to create fairness so that people who have improved their home pay a fair share. 75 00:06:22,170 --> 00:06:27,070 And as the mayor mentioned, there's a state tax law that mandates fair and equitable assessments. 76 00:06:27,710 --> 00:06:29,470 It's called law 12 to .62. 77 00:06:31,270 --> 00:06:37,350 It's also important to do a reassessment to correct data that's incorrect and to collect missing data. 78 00:06:38,810 --> 00:06:44,070 So many of you have fears about a reassessment, and that makes sense that we do. 79 00:06:44,330 --> 00:06:48,250 Some folks are concerned that we find hidden improvements like you put a pool in without 80 00:06:48,250 --> 00:06:52,830 a building permit or you constructed a patio or did an addition to your house without 81 00:06:52,830 --> 00:06:53,530 permit. 82 00:06:53,910 --> 00:06:56,290 Sometimes folks are concerned about that. 83 00:06:57,650 --> 00:07:00,650 Another concern that people have is paying more in taxes. 84 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:08,180 The other concern is governments will automatically spend more money, as soon as a reassessment 85 00:07:08,180 --> 00:07:14,720 occurred and sometimes people are concerned about a shift in the tax base and what a shift 86 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:20,000 is is when one type of property goes up at a different rate than another type of property. 87 00:07:20,940 --> 00:07:26,820 For instance office space is not as desirable as it was four years ago but apartments are 88 00:07:26,820 --> 00:07:37,720 more desirable so they go up at a different level and those shows a shift that goes on and 89 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:43,200 pay taxes based upon equitably established values that fear goes away. 90 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:48,860 Collecting hidden improvements of your neighbors and yourself provides a foundation for fairness. 91 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:54,220 Any shift that occurs in assessments by class also promotes greater fairness. 92 00:07:55,660 --> 00:08:01,020 And there is no cause all relationship when someone goes through a reassessment that they 93 00:08:01,020 --> 00:08:02,580 automatically increase spending. 94 00:08:04,570 --> 00:08:08,090 There's a concept called revenue neutral that I want to share with you. 95 00:08:08,090 --> 00:08:17,870 When you do a reassessment and the mayor talked about this, the grand list goes up, and then the mill rate drops down in correspondence with a typical increase in the grand list. 96 00:08:18,430 --> 00:08:23,230 So it's revenue neutral. It's a program that's not designed to raise revenue. 97 00:08:23,550 --> 00:08:27,410 It's designed to do equitable and fair assessments. 98 00:08:28,850 --> 00:08:40,430 The goals of the revaluation are to implement new assessments as of October 1st, 2024, using the best professional practices. 99 00:08:41,290 --> 00:08:53,050 And notice up there, it says 70%. In Connecticut, and we're the only state that does this, we assess properties at 70% of their market value. 100 00:08:53,050 --> 00:09:03,090 Many other states like New York or Massachusetts or Vermont and Maine value properties based upon 100% of value. 101 00:09:04,170 --> 00:09:08,110 So, and someone has always asked me, well, why does this happen this way? Why is it 70%? 102 00:09:08,870 --> 00:09:13,270 It's gone on this way for 50, 60, 70 years and no one really knows why. 103 00:09:13,930 --> 00:09:17,090 The legislature voted it this way and it's always been that way. 104 00:09:17,850 --> 00:09:25,310 So mathematically, if you have a house, it's worth $100,000, it's assessment is worth $70,000. 105 00:09:25,310 --> 00:09:26,470 Excuse me for a minute, 106 00:09:30,010 --> 00:09:33,810 it's my sister who happens to be in the hospital. 107 00:09:34,750 --> 00:09:38,950 She has stage four cancer and I've been concerned about her. 108 00:09:39,730 --> 00:09:42,910 So thank you for being patient anyway. 109 00:09:43,950 --> 00:09:47,930 The other goal is to meet or exceed the Office of Policy and Management Standards. 110 00:09:47,930 --> 00:09:52,290 So we're required to follow OPM standards as well. 111 00:09:53,170 --> 00:09:56,230 And we're required to follow use-pap standards, which is the 112 00:09:56,230 --> 00:09:58,970 Uniform Standards of Professional Prasal Practice, which we're 113 00:09:58,970 --> 00:09:59,990 Members of them. 114 00:10:00,590 --> 00:10:03,310 And we're also members of the IWO, which is the 115 00:10:03,310 --> 00:10:05,410 International Association of Assessing Officers. 116 00:10:05,930 --> 00:10:08,530 And there's a standard on Mass Appraisal there as well that 117 00:10:08,530 --> 00:10:09,090 we follow. 118 00:10:10,770 --> 00:10:13,290 In the end, we're supposed to target and optimize 119 00:10:13,290 --> 00:10:16,010 reappraisal methods and resources to focus on the 120 00:10:16,010 --> 00:10:20,110 needs while addressing the uniqueness of the town of Hamden. 121 00:10:20,750 --> 00:10:22,950 We're looking at Hamden as community. 122 00:10:23,350 --> 00:10:27,190 We're looking at sales evidence and cost information for the town of Hamden. 123 00:10:27,530 --> 00:10:31,470 We're not going to do haven or North Haven or Walling for it to get data. 124 00:10:31,590 --> 00:10:34,150 We're using data right here within Hamden. 125 00:10:36,130 --> 00:10:37,230 The data value again. 126 00:10:37,850 --> 00:10:41,670 We're supposed to assess the properties and market value and market conditions 127 00:10:41,670 --> 00:10:44,410 as of October 1, 2024. 128 00:10:44,410 --> 00:10:50,550 The market value, according to the state of Connecticut, and the International Association 129 00:10:50,550 --> 00:10:57,670 of Assessing Officers, has to be between 90% and 100% of the median of all valid sales 130 00:10:58,370 --> 00:10:59,790 as of the data value. 131 00:11:01,450 --> 00:11:08,150 Assessments have to be between 63% and 70% of the median of all valid sales. 132 00:11:08,730 --> 00:11:13,930 So we submit sales evidence at the end of this project, which the Office of Policy and Management 133 00:11:13,930 --> 00:11:20,190 or review and certify as to the validity of the reassessment based on these statistics. 134 00:11:20,930 --> 00:11:24,850 And tonight I'm going to share with you what those statistics currently are before we 135 00:11:24,850 --> 00:11:26,910 mail out our change notices to you. 136 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:33,920 There are three key components here and folks that work together to create a successful 137 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:34,660 reassessment. 138 00:11:35,060 --> 00:11:40,800 The first is the assessor's office who engages and helps us and gives us data to do a proper 139 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:41,480 reassessment. 140 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:47,420 The other is our company, Tyler Technologies, and finally we work with the Office of Policy and Management. 141 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:52,860 And those three groups working together will do create a successful reassessment. 142 00:11:55,070 --> 00:12:01,230 There are certain phases of the reevaluation. There's something called data collection and data mailers that were sent out. 143 00:12:01,530 --> 00:12:08,130 So starting in August of last year of 2023, we started walking around the exterior properties here in hand, 144 00:12:08,130 --> 00:12:12,390 and to see if there was any measurement errors, or if the buildings looked like they had 145 00:12:12,390 --> 00:12:17,410 additions to them. And if we saw that, we would make adjustments and measure those buildings. 146 00:12:18,450 --> 00:12:22,470 We also sent out data mailers. Many of you should have received those in the mail that 147 00:12:22,470 --> 00:12:27,890 described your house, show the sketch of your property, and you had to correct them if the 148 00:12:27,890 --> 00:12:31,810 square footage was wrong, or if the number of bedrooms or bathrooms was incorrect, or 149 00:12:31,810 --> 00:12:36,930 fireplaces or air conditioning, you had a chance to respond to that and mail that back to us. 150 00:12:36,930 --> 00:12:38,290 that's all part of the process. 151 00:12:39,250 --> 00:12:44,250 The next thing that happens occurs between July of 24 and October of 24, 152 00:12:44,670 --> 00:12:45,970 where we did data analysis. 153 00:12:46,190 --> 00:12:49,350 We looked at all the sales evidence that occurred here in hand 154 00:12:49,350 --> 00:12:51,030 for the past two or three years. 155 00:12:51,570 --> 00:12:54,110 And in particular, we looked at the past year, 156 00:12:54,430 --> 00:12:58,110 because that's the data set that the state of Connecticut uses 157 00:12:58,110 --> 00:13:02,810 to judge the accuracy and validity of the reassessment. 158 00:13:03,510 --> 00:13:05,210 We've been doing that since July, 159 00:13:05,210 --> 00:13:07,590 and completed it in October of 24. 160 00:13:08,770 --> 00:13:12,050 What's coming up is what's known as final valuation review. 161 00:13:12,410 --> 00:13:16,890 We look at all the values, see if they make sense in relation to each other, for fairness 162 00:13:16,890 --> 00:13:17,490 and equity. 163 00:13:18,650 --> 00:13:21,290 And then we have something called informal meetings or hearings. 164 00:13:22,370 --> 00:13:24,970 And I'm going to speak to you about that process in a minute. 165 00:13:25,170 --> 00:13:29,370 But notice as we've mailed out very shortly, and you'll have a chance to meet with people 166 00:13:29,370 --> 00:13:31,570 that you have a question about your assessment. 167 00:13:32,050 --> 00:13:35,190 You think it's unfair or maybe you think it's too low when you want to come. 168 00:13:35,190 --> 00:13:37,330 and share information about it. 169 00:13:39,420 --> 00:13:41,200 There's a definition of market value, 170 00:13:41,380 --> 00:13:42,460 which you should all be aware of, 171 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:44,160 and this is the definition of state of Connecticut 172 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,340 uses in the definition of use bet. 173 00:13:47,940 --> 00:13:50,280 Market value is the most probable price. 174 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:52,500 Notice it doesn't say the highest price. 175 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:54,800 There are some states in the United States 176 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:57,400 which practice under the highest price rule, 177 00:13:58,080 --> 00:13:58,740 not Connecticut. 178 00:13:59,380 --> 00:14:01,340 It's the most probable price. 179 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:06,060 Which a property should bring in a competitive and open market 180 00:14:06,060 --> 00:14:13,200 with buyer and seller each acting crudently and knowledgeably, and not affected by undue stimulus. 181 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:17,360 It goes on to say that it says of a specified date. 182 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:21,280 We talked about the date, the date is October 1st, 2024. 183 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:25,220 The buyer and seller are typically motivated. 184 00:14:26,860 --> 00:14:29,500 Both parties are well-informed and well-advised. 185 00:14:31,060 --> 00:14:33,960 A reasonable time is allowed for exposure in the open market. 186 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,260 And payment is made in terms of cash. 187 00:14:39,380 --> 00:14:42,820 And it's unaffected by special or creative financing or sales 188 00:14:42,820 --> 00:14:43,640 concessions. 189 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,160 These are the definitions of reaching market value. 190 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:49,220 So if we look at a sale that occurs, 191 00:14:50,020 --> 00:14:53,280 where someone was forced to buy a property in one day, 192 00:14:53,660 --> 00:14:55,680 that may not be a valid market transaction. 193 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:58,320 Because they were given undue stimulus. 194 00:14:58,580 --> 00:14:59,980 It was not offered on the open market. 195 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:12,090 Work it for a reasonable period of time. The reassessment process is as follows. It's a little pyramid. Data collection at the bottom, data mailers. We looked at sales evidence and 196 00:15:12,090 --> 00:15:24,450 expected those properties which sold and we collected building for min information for properties which have had improvements. The next thing is analysis. Modeling, which is to come up with the 197 00:15:24,450 --> 00:15:30,370 evaluation model or cost tables or algorithms, if you want to use that term, and something 198 00:15:30,370 --> 00:15:34,670 known as pre-review, where we go out and look at all the properties from the road to see 199 00:15:34,670 --> 00:15:38,370 if the data collected by the data collector makes sense. 200 00:15:38,370 --> 00:15:45,210 We have somebody else look at that, and we do final evaluation review, where someone once again 201 00:15:45,210 --> 00:15:49,970 from the road looks at the property, has a final value estimate, it looks at it relations 202 00:15:49,970 --> 00:15:54,070 of the sales to see if that judgment is correct and accurate, fair and equitable. 203 00:15:55,330 --> 00:15:58,750 And finally, the hearings, which we're just about ready to begin with. 204 00:15:59,770 --> 00:16:04,290 This is a data mailer that was sent out to you, in a picture of the house sketch of the 205 00:16:04,290 --> 00:16:08,990 property, swear footage, and a place for you to sign and correct if you wanted to do some. 206 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:14,320 This is a sales map I thought I'd share with you with these the sales have occurred in the 207 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:15,940 past year, here in Hamden. 208 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:20,520 This map will be available to you and posted online on the assessor's website. 209 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:25,320 So, you can see the sales that have occurred in the location of the sales that were utilized. 210 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,180 The list of sales will also be made available to you online. 211 00:17:34,460 --> 00:17:39,260 What you can do is you can look online and look on who sold the property, who bought the property. 212 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:40,540 That's available to you. 213 00:17:40,700 --> 00:17:42,940 There's going to be a database that's going to be up on the web. 214 00:17:43,060 --> 00:17:47,220 You'll be able to see every transaction that occurred and you can look at that information yourself. 215 00:18:19,980 --> 00:18:22,500 There were, 216 00:18:32,140 --> 00:18:36,640 with the question goes back to the definition of market value. 217 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:41,940 Was it a fair or an equitable transaction that was the most probable selling price where 218 00:18:41,940 --> 00:18:45,320 both the buyer and seller motivated to do the sale? 219 00:18:45,540 --> 00:18:47,700 Who bought it is not part of the definition? 220 00:18:48,780 --> 00:18:54,760 It's a good question, but you're basing on the hypothesis that people overpay because 221 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:55,640 they were corporation. 222 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:57,520 That may or may not be true. 223 00:18:57,520 --> 00:18:59,680 I don't know the answer to that question. 224 00:19:21,890 --> 00:19:23,710 You'll have to look at information up. 225 00:19:23,750 --> 00:19:26,090 I don't know how many properties were bought by corporations. 226 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:55,620 There are 518 sales as part of the sample set of sales. 227 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:59,960 I don't think vast majority of those were purchased by corporations. 228 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:01,940 I think vast majority were purchased by individuals. 229 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:07,900 And the three out of the 518. 230 00:20:10,940 --> 00:20:11,320 Okay. 231 00:20:58,070 --> 00:20:58,610 Okay, 232 00:21:01,090 --> 00:21:08,850 well, once again I'll repeat, it has to the definition of market value, which I have to adhere to, which is a state of Connecticut looks at. 233 00:21:09,250 --> 00:21:13,250 If it's purchased with undue stimulus, then it's a sale that we would utilize. 234 00:21:13,830 --> 00:21:26,010 If it's purchased with buyer and seller equally motivated to make a profit and to sell for a reasonable amount that they think is reasonable and to receive that amount, then it's a market value transaction. 235 00:21:26,010 --> 00:21:34,540 So, these are the sales and they range anywhere from 200,000 up to 2.5 million. 236 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:39,200 You can see the vast majority of sales around $3 to $400,000 range. 237 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:44,640 You've got a clustering of sales down here, some here, and fewer up here in Hamden. 238 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:49,000 I'm going to share with you some sales that have occurred. 239 00:21:49,500 --> 00:21:53,700 I thought it'd be interesting for us to take a look at companies that sold three or four 240 00:21:53,700 --> 00:21:57,220 years ago and see what they just sold for now. 241 00:21:57,920 --> 00:21:59,580 Let's take a look at them. 242 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:03,940 So this one here sold in 2020, four years ago, 243 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:06,240 when the reassessment was done in September, 244 00:22:07,020 --> 00:22:09,260 it sold for $195,000. 245 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:14,300 In July of this year, it sold for $330,000, 246 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:20,260 or roughly 1.69 times what it was purchased for four years ago. 247 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,300 That's an increase of 69%. 248 00:22:24,300 --> 00:22:25,760 I'll share with you another one. 249 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:34,180 This is a condominium. Again, in 2020, four years ago, it's so for 94,000, the end of last year 250 00:22:34,180 --> 00:22:46,820 it's so for 165,000. 1.76 times or a 76% increased in four years. Here's another one in 2021 and May 251 00:22:46,820 --> 00:22:58,940 359,000 in July of 2024, 520,000, it's a ranch, 1.45 times, or a 45% increase. 252 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:06,600 Here's a sale in May of 2021 for 210,000. 253 00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:16,500 It's sold in September of 2024, for 320,000, raised ranch, 1.52 times, or 52% increase. 254 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:22,880 Here's a sale in June of 2021 for 390,000. 255 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:28,980 It sold again in 2024 for 579,000. 256 00:23:29,340 --> 00:23:34,180 Our 1.48 times increase or a 48% increase in value. 257 00:23:35,940 --> 00:23:36,820 Here's 1.21. 258 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:44,900 487,000 and 2023, the end of last year, 750,000. 259 00:23:44,900 --> 00:23:51,120 a 1.54 times increase, 54% increase. It did have enough the 260 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:53,060 education during the period of time. 261 00:23:55,190 --> 00:23:58,790 In 2020, this one's so for 530,000. 262 00:23:58,970 --> 00:24:07,110 4 years later, it's so for 780,000. 1.47 times or 47% increase as a ranch. 263 00:24:09,170 --> 00:24:19,630 2020, a simple ranch, so for $190,000 in 2020, and 2024 in February, and so for $320,000. 264 00:24:19,970 --> 00:24:26,250 1.68 times, or a 68% increase, they also had an updated kitchen before the new 265 00:24:26,250 --> 00:24:26,610 purchase. 266 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:33,680 No. 267 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:36,660 No. 268 00:24:36,780 --> 00:24:41,120 I have not seen any sales in Hamden where someone bought a property four years ago, 269 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,240 and they sold it for less presently. 270 00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:58,080 Okay, well, you can share with us some data that you know about decreases in sale prices, but I don't have any evidence of that. 271 00:24:59,140 --> 00:24:59,540 Yes, ma 272 00:25:07,580 --> 00:25:08,240 'am. 273 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:21,840 I'm going to make a presentation after this presentation that deals with the answer to a question that I was raised sometime about six or seven months ago when someone said to me, would you please explain how the math is done? 274 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,420 So that presentation is going to follow this one. 275 00:25:25,420 --> 00:25:27,740 This is a generic overall presentation. 276 00:25:28,660 --> 00:25:30,320 I'm going to explain how the math is done, 277 00:25:30,500 --> 00:25:32,640 the calculations are done after, 278 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:34,400 and that may affect your neighborhood. 279 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:35,640 If you're interested in that, 280 00:25:35,900 --> 00:25:37,680 this also affects neighborhood 40. 281 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:39,920 Everything that I'm talking about here 282 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,920 with increased notices in the process of reassessment 283 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:44,640 has to do with neighborhood 40. 284 00:25:44,900 --> 00:25:47,700 But do you want to stay for a more detailed presentation 285 00:25:47,700 --> 00:25:49,560 and the mayor called it boring? 286 00:25:50,180 --> 00:25:51,100 It might be boring. 287 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,060 I used to teach history 288 00:25:54,060 --> 00:26:00,300 And those of you know, history a lot of students don't like history, and I was called boring then. 289 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:03,860 I will try not to be boring for you when we do the math segment. 290 00:26:06,070 --> 00:26:08,010 So given that data that you, yes sir, 291 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:16,140 I'm going to share with you a list of neighborhoods 292 00:26:16,140 --> 00:26:18,560 or in the next section you can see them all. 293 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:24,180 I don't have the total count in my head, but I'll show you the entire list of those neighborhoods. 294 00:26:24,820 --> 00:26:27,520 And then we get a map that will be online. 295 00:26:27,780 --> 00:26:31,580 We can see the various neighborhoods as well if you're interested in that. 296 00:26:36,860 --> 00:26:39,620 I can give you a perspective of how we do it now if you'd like. 297 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:44,540 So neighborhoods are based upon geographic location to begin with, 298 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:46,540 whether it's clustered near each other. 299 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:51,380 It's also based upon economic data, what houses are selling for, 300 00:26:52,900 --> 00:26:55,640 age period when those houses were built together, 301 00:26:56,500 --> 00:26:57,420 would also be helpful. 302 00:26:57,420 --> 00:27:03,320 And those delineations are made and followed and they're done through neighborhood analysis. 303 00:27:03,620 --> 00:27:10,640 So we look at sales in a particular neighborhood and we identify homes which cluster together based upon sales evidence. 304 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,120 That's how it's done. 305 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:12,980 Yes. 306 00:27:20,630 --> 00:27:28,450 They do change because sometimes neighborhoods decline and properties go outside other neighborhoods are going to other neighborhoods. 307 00:27:28,690 --> 00:27:29,650 That certainly is true. 308 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:32,720 Yes. 309 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:33,500 Could 310 00:27:45,790 --> 00:27:47,810 you repeat the question and speak up loudly? 311 00:27:48,730 --> 00:27:53,030 Or for closures are not considered to be part of a valid market sale. 312 00:28:07,620 --> 00:28:11,540 It has to go back to the question of market value, whether it's a market value transaction. 313 00:28:11,780 --> 00:28:17,180 If you and I, I sold my house to you and you and I agreed to it and was a market value 314 00:28:17,180 --> 00:28:18,900 estimate it might be a valid sale. 315 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:24,760 One thing we did as you saw earlier is we went to inspect sales and we also sent out 316 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:29,800 to people to ask them about the sale, to see if it was typically motivated, we would have 317 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:31,480 removed it if it wasn't. 318 00:28:34,210 --> 00:28:37,370 I wanted to talk before I go into commercial valuation, which we're 319 00:28:37,370 --> 00:28:42,490 going to spend a brief amount of time with. After you just saw those sales transactions, 320 00:28:43,030 --> 00:28:48,950 assuming those are representative of hand, and I think they are, what do you think market value 321 00:28:48,950 --> 00:28:51,070 was increased in four years. 322 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:58,400 Around 50, 60% that makes sense to you. 323 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:02,880 Well, you're going to share some evidence with me later, aren't you? 324 00:29:03,300 --> 00:29:05,220 I'm looking forward to seeing that, yeah. 325 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:10,140 So commercial valuation is a little different than residential valuation. 326 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:14,340 We do look at sales evidence, but we also look at something known as income. 327 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,740 We use something called the income capitalization approach. 328 00:29:17,740 --> 00:29:28,880 And that method is to take the income, the income of the property, and capitalize its value or the rate of return that an investor would get on a property. 329 00:29:31,610 --> 00:29:38,010 In Connecticut, all commercial property owners are required to fill out an income and expense form. 330 00:29:38,690 --> 00:29:44,550 And they filled it out every year. They submitted that data to us. So we find out what their gross income is. 331 00:29:44,550 --> 00:29:51,050 their expenses for for management for utilities and so on and so we come up with a net income 332 00:29:51,050 --> 00:29:56,810 and we use that net income to arrive at a value. You should know this is not the income 333 00:29:56,810 --> 00:29:59,570 for the sale of goods or restaurant meals. 334 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,480 This is the income to rent the space. That's what we're talking about. 335 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:09,760 In the past four years, commercial markets have 336 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:16,220 increased as much as residential markets. That's also probably not a surprise team. So commercial 337 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:20,520 rents in hand and have only gone up about 10 percent in the past four years. 338 00:30:23,210 --> 00:30:23,750 If you look at 339 00:30:23,750 --> 00:30:28,590 commercial sale prices, they've gone up about 14 percent. If you look at the number of sales have occurred 340 00:30:28,590 --> 00:30:32,690 over the past four years, they've gone up about 14%. 341 00:30:33,550 --> 00:30:38,270 Apartments on the other hand, which are in a greater demand than typical commercial space, 342 00:30:38,830 --> 00:30:41,070 has gone up about 29%. 343 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:43,440 This is the formula. 344 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:44,940 You take the net income. 345 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:47,060 Let's say it's $100,000. 346 00:30:47,340 --> 00:30:50,500 You capitalize it at a rate of roughly 10%. 347 00:30:50,500 --> 00:30:54,320 As a rate of return, you come up with value of a million dollars. 348 00:30:57,180 --> 00:30:57,760 I'm going to go back. 349 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,820 It's also the data value again to review that with you. 350 00:31:00,820 --> 00:31:07,720 October 1, 2024, a 90 to 100 percent, 63 to 70 percent for the assessment. 351 00:31:08,700 --> 00:31:13,500 These are the current statistics that we have uncovered here in Hamden based upon our 352 00:31:13,500 --> 00:31:14,260 sales analysis. 353 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:20,800 So we're currently at a 95 percent median assessment sales ratio, so if we're property 354 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,820 so for 100,000, we would be around 95,000. 355 00:31:24,820 --> 00:31:33,160 The coefficient of dispersion, which is the distance and array around the median, is about 8% up and down, 356 00:31:33,500 --> 00:31:39,740 which is a tight coefficient, were required to be 15% or less were at 8.2. 357 00:31:40,420 --> 00:31:46,960 The PRD, which is a really interesting statistic, were at 1.01, the requirement is 0.98 to 103. 358 00:31:47,900 --> 00:31:52,460 I'm going to give you a simple lesson on PRD, which is called price-related differential. 359 00:31:52,460 --> 00:31:59,640 And the purpose of that statistic is to find out if we're under-assessing expensive homes, 360 00:32:00,180 --> 00:32:03,000 or over-assessing inexpensive homes. 361 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:05,960 So the intention is to make sure there's no bias. 362 00:32:06,500 --> 00:32:08,520 Sometimes that happens during a reassessment. 363 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:13,840 People under-assets expensive homes or over-assets less expensive homes. 364 00:32:14,660 --> 00:32:19,620 The last is the PRB, and I won't go into that detail, but that's a little more defined 365 00:32:19,620 --> 00:32:20,520 than the PRD. 366 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:22,740 It's a similar sort of measurement of equity. 367 00:32:25,170 --> 00:32:27,650 You're going to be receiving a change notice in the mail. 368 00:32:28,330 --> 00:32:30,730 And that notice is going to look like this. 369 00:32:31,370 --> 00:32:33,090 It's going to have your name and address the location, 370 00:32:33,210 --> 00:32:34,910 the property, at the bottom. 371 00:32:35,110 --> 00:32:38,070 It's going to show the current assess value 372 00:32:38,070 --> 00:32:39,890 and the newest assess value. 373 00:32:41,110 --> 00:32:43,130 So before you open this notice, 374 00:32:43,290 --> 00:32:44,970 I'm going to suggest you do a few things. 375 00:32:45,890 --> 00:32:48,390 One is to answer the question I raised at the beginning 376 00:32:48,390 --> 00:32:49,690 of tonight's presentation. 377 00:32:50,190 --> 00:32:55,850 is what would you sell your house for? What do you think it's worth? Those are things 378 00:32:55,850 --> 00:33:01,150 to consider and you're being fair to yourself and to others if you think of that. And 379 00:33:01,150 --> 00:33:06,330 also before you open the envelope, you may want to sit down and you may want to have 380 00:33:06,330 --> 00:33:12,970 a drink or eat some popcorn which I like if I would rather do and then open the envelope 381 00:33:12,970 --> 00:33:19,470 and see if that number that's on there reflects what you think the property would sell 382 00:33:19,470 --> 00:33:26,910 what you would sell your property for. What is it worth? And if you're doing that, I think you'll be fair to yourself and to others. 383 00:33:27,450 --> 00:33:35,670 My dad always talked about two different values. He said there's a value for the assessor's office and there's a value for what I sell the property for. 384 00:33:36,150 --> 00:33:41,270 And he always believed that and I talked to him for years. He and I disagreed on that one issue. 385 00:33:42,550 --> 00:33:45,210 In Connecticut, they're the same. 386 00:33:45,210 --> 00:33:51,130 There is no assessor's office number that's supposed to be lower than market value. 387 00:33:51,210 --> 00:33:56,350 We're required by law to make them fair and equitable at a hundred percent of market value. 388 00:34:31,980 --> 00:34:34,020 No, that's a really good question. 389 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:38,740 I'm really glad you brought that up because many people do that. 390 00:34:39,100 --> 00:34:45,740 They look at the old assessment and they think there should be the same correlation from the old assessment to the new one for all properties. 391 00:34:45,740 --> 00:34:52,300 And you're right, sometimes the old assessments are not reflective of market value, even back in 2020. 392 00:34:53,020 --> 00:34:59,280 In theory they were because it went through the certification process, but we don't multiply the old assessment times the new. 393 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:07,700 So it will be different. It may be different between different neighborhoods and different locations and different types of houses and different ages of houses. 394 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,780 It's not always the same percentage of increase or change. 395 00:35:23,390 --> 00:35:24,890 Right. That's right. 396 00:35:24,890 --> 00:35:31,810 It's a completely different, it's a number, a final value estimate, and we haven't talked about the appeals process. 397 00:35:32,210 --> 00:35:36,790 But after the hearings go on, and we go through a process of hearings and appeals, 398 00:35:36,990 --> 00:35:41,410 you can always go through the board of assessment appeals and appeal your assessment that way, 399 00:35:41,750 --> 00:35:45,310 and then you can go to court if you wish to disagree with your assessment. 400 00:35:46,170 --> 00:35:49,610 If you go this one second, can I just finish? 401 00:35:51,830 --> 00:35:53,490 Let me just finish. 402 00:35:55,030 --> 00:35:56,070 Thank you. 403 00:35:56,850 --> 00:35:58,970 The way appeals work are the state of Connecticut. 404 00:35:59,310 --> 00:36:01,230 There are two ways of appealing your assessment. 405 00:36:01,730 --> 00:36:03,430 Section 118 and 119. 406 00:36:04,230 --> 00:36:06,270 118 is an appeal of market value. 407 00:36:06,850 --> 00:36:10,190 You have to prove that your market value compared to what the 408 00:36:10,190 --> 00:36:11,770 assessor has is different. 409 00:36:12,270 --> 00:36:13,390 But you believe it should be lower. 410 00:36:13,490 --> 00:36:14,750 You have to prove that values incorrect. 411 00:36:15,830 --> 00:36:18,250 119 appeal is a class action suit appeal. 412 00:36:18,250 --> 00:36:22,230 where you have to indicate improved bias on the association of the assessor. 413 00:36:29,650 --> 00:36:33,130 I'm going to explain that in the detailed section where the math is. 414 00:36:34,510 --> 00:36:34,650 Okay. 415 00:36:35,650 --> 00:36:36,190 Yes, 416 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:46,660 the minimum number of sales. 417 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:07,080 Just using three sales for 100 appraisals. 418 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:10,760 Yeah, that would just be 3%. 419 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:11,820 Yeah. 420 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:13,140 Right. 421 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:17,000 Yeah, typically we're closer to eight to 10% of sales 422 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,080 in relation to the total population of sales. 423 00:37:23,290 --> 00:37:23,510 Yes. 424 00:37:23,970 --> 00:37:29,250 We can go back in time, the only thing that occurs differently, though, so I can go back 425 00:37:29,250 --> 00:37:31,530 two or three years or even more if I wanted to. 426 00:37:32,230 --> 00:37:36,250 But when we submit the data to the state of Connecticut, it has to be just that one year 427 00:37:36,250 --> 00:37:37,670 snapshot in time. 428 00:37:37,950 --> 00:37:39,570 That's a data that we're measured on. 429 00:37:39,850 --> 00:37:40,570 Yes, ma'am. 430 00:37:45,700 --> 00:37:50,360 They're comparable sales that could be the different neighborhood, because when people buy homes, 431 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:52,560 they may look in more than one neighborhood. 432 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:57,200 And that house that is in your neighborhood might compete with another neighborhood. 433 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,440 So that's a good point. Yes. Yes, ma'am. 434 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:14,700 We don't know that. We just look at the sales. 435 00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:18,260 We don't know if the college students have brought the value of the home up or down. 436 00:38:18,260 --> 00:38:22,840 We look at the transaction at the time, whether it's used for college rentals or not. 437 00:38:23,420 --> 00:38:31,560 We don't know that. However, if a property sells, and let's say the condition of the house or the building was deteriorated because of 438 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:37,960 college students, that would be reflected in theory in the purchase price, and we would have inspected the property and found that out. 439 00:38:39,430 --> 00:38:40,490 Yes, sir. 440 00:39:01,340 --> 00:39:01,660 Yes. 441 00:39:06,290 --> 00:39:07,210 Yes. Yes. Yes. 442 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:16,180 That's correct. 443 00:39:21,450 --> 00:39:26,310 That method is used throughout the state of Connecticut, and I'm going to show you how that math works. 444 00:39:30,110 --> 00:39:35,650 So, when you get your reassessment notice, I'm going to suggest you ask yourself four questions. 445 00:39:36,310 --> 00:39:38,870 Can I sell my property for that amount? 446 00:39:41,110 --> 00:39:44,090 Are the property characteristics that you look at online? 447 00:39:44,190 --> 00:39:47,150 Because when you get to notice you can go right online and go to the link. 448 00:39:47,450 --> 00:39:53,050 And look up your property, make sure it has the right bedrooms, bathrooms, fireplaces, and acreage, or square footage. 449 00:39:53,770 --> 00:39:54,530 Is that correct? 450 00:39:55,990 --> 00:40:00,090 How much are the similar properties of my neighborhood selling for? You can look at that. 451 00:40:01,570 --> 00:40:04,230 How much of similar properties of my neighborhood been assessed for? 452 00:40:04,230 --> 00:40:07,610 you can compare it to other neighbors if you wish to do so. 453 00:40:10,090 --> 00:40:11,790 So suppose you've done that, 454 00:40:12,010 --> 00:40:16,090 and you think your property is over assessed or under assessed, 455 00:40:16,410 --> 00:40:17,990 and maybe you want to come and speak to us, 456 00:40:18,050 --> 00:40:19,790 you're more than welcome to do that. 457 00:40:20,250 --> 00:40:21,450 So what do you do? 458 00:40:21,570 --> 00:40:24,190 You could request a phone hearing if you think the value 459 00:40:24,190 --> 00:40:25,030 is inaccurate. 460 00:40:26,270 --> 00:40:28,970 In-person hearings are by request only, 461 00:40:29,650 --> 00:40:31,530 so they're done typically by phones. 462 00:40:32,990 --> 00:40:36,570 You can email documents to us before the hearings. 463 00:40:36,830 --> 00:40:38,670 Let's say you had an appraisal done recently. 464 00:40:39,670 --> 00:40:40,870 That would be helpful to submit. 465 00:40:41,470 --> 00:40:44,550 Or if you have photographs you'd like to submit to us or 466 00:40:44,550 --> 00:40:47,370 sketches or anything else you want to share with us. 467 00:40:47,590 --> 00:40:49,710 That would be helpful to submit before the hearing. 468 00:40:51,130 --> 00:40:53,870 Notice is our intended to be mailed right roughly after 469 00:40:53,870 --> 00:40:56,530 here we're talking about now about November 25th, 470 00:40:57,450 --> 00:40:58,310 right before Thanksgiving. 471 00:40:59,570 --> 00:41:00,370 Around Thanksgiving. 472 00:41:01,070 --> 00:41:04,450 The deadline to schedule a hearing is December 17. 473 00:41:06,910 --> 00:41:09,210 Hearings will start in the first part of December. 474 00:41:11,450 --> 00:41:14,570 The hearing results are going to be sent to you at the end of January. 475 00:41:15,290 --> 00:41:17,470 So you'll have a chance to come in and talk to us. 476 00:41:17,570 --> 00:41:19,410 We'll go over the data with you. 477 00:41:19,770 --> 00:41:20,930 You can share your information. 478 00:41:21,970 --> 00:41:23,190 We'll review that information. 479 00:41:23,870 --> 00:41:25,130 Review the sales of occurred. 480 00:41:25,690 --> 00:41:27,250 Review the accuracy of the record. 481 00:41:27,850 --> 00:41:30,210 And then we may or may not make an adjustment. 482 00:41:31,450 --> 00:41:37,230 We may make an adjustment that reduces it, but you still may not feel that sphere, but you 483 00:41:37,230 --> 00:41:39,190 receive that notice before the end of January. 484 00:41:40,190 --> 00:41:44,690 The end of January is an important time because in the state of Connecticut, typically, 485 00:41:45,150 --> 00:41:49,330 the assessors sign their grand list on January 31st. 486 00:41:49,470 --> 00:41:54,210 That's when they take all those assessments, add them up all together, and the assessor will sign that 487 00:41:54,210 --> 00:41:55,510 that's a valid grand list. 488 00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:04,260 The next set of appeals is the Board of Assessment Appeals, and that filing is between February 1st 489 00:42:04,260 --> 00:42:09,980 and February 20. You must file by February 20 if you wish to go to the Board of Assessment Appeals. 490 00:42:10,580 --> 00:42:16,860 In this state of Connecticut, the Board of Assessment Appeals is a local group of folks who are not Tyler Technologies, 491 00:42:16,900 --> 00:42:21,960 who can hear your case and review your value, and they may lower your assessment. 492 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:28,820 So in the hearings, there are one-on-one phone meeting, there am in the corner that was a 493 00:42:28,820 --> 00:42:32,460 long time ago when I didn't have gray hair, didn't have a beard. 494 00:42:34,940 --> 00:42:38,780 You're going to have a chance to, you should be able to disapply and discuss appraisals 495 00:42:38,780 --> 00:42:44,240 you might have any purchase and sale agreements, closing statements if you have an income 496 00:42:44,240 --> 00:42:51,200 property, recent income and expense data, tax returns, leases, comparable sales, and 497 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:58,440 If you want to submit information after the hearing, you can also do that and we'll review that and welcome that and review that. 498 00:43:00,340 --> 00:43:08,360 This is the time table that we have adhered to. I talked to you about this earlier about the data collection phase evaluation review phase. 499 00:43:08,420 --> 00:43:11,420 Remember the effective data value is October one. 500 00:43:11,780 --> 00:43:16,560 The mailing of the notices around the 25th or so are hearing is going to be held in December. 501 00:43:17,300 --> 00:43:20,000 and we're going to send notices out the end of January, 502 00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:23,600 then the Board of Assessment Appeals 503 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:29,760 takes over. February 1st, February 20th, they have their hearings in March, they make their 504 00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:35,480 decisions by the end of March, then you must file with a superior court if you disagree with 505 00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:42,220 what the Board of Assessment Appeals has decided. The next step is budgeting by the Finance 506 00:43:42,220 --> 00:43:49,400 Department in Town Council. That's between March 2025 and May of 2025. The mill rate will be established 507 00:43:49,400 --> 00:43:58,650 between May and June of 2025. New tax bills are going to be mail down in June of 2025. This tax bill 508 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:04,480 is going to use the new assessments. Your tax bill, if you receive one in December, 509 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:06,580 uses the old assessment. 510 00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:11,460 Tax bills are doing payable on July 1 of 2025. 511 00:44:11,780 --> 00:44:14,200 The last day to pay without interest is August 1. 512 00:44:15,100 --> 00:44:18,760 One thing the mayor said earlier that I want to reiterate, and it's in the notice, 513 00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:24,620 do not multiply the new assessment by the current mill rate. 514 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:29,640 Then you will feel very sick and upset because the mill rate is going to drop 515 00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:32,980 because the grand list is going to go up a large amount. 516 00:44:32,980 --> 00:44:35,620 and we just showed you some of the increases earlier today. 517 00:44:37,340 --> 00:44:41,320 So in the end, we did some data collection, which was quality driven, 518 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:47,360 detailed analysis, which we did in modeling, the accurate valuation done by review and hearings, 519 00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:50,740 and we really want to be transparent with you fair and equitable. 520 00:44:52,980 --> 00:44:56,640 So now, any question. This is one of my favorite slides. Yes. 521 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:18,380 If the tree has fallen on your house, 522 00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:31,320 it's considered a maintenance item and not considered part of a reassessment. 523 00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:36,880 So we would think that you folks would maintain your property by cutting your strawberries or trimming your trees. 524 00:45:48,660 --> 00:45:53,840 Yeah, I'd have to look at the property. I can't be specific about it. Maybe we can talk after the meeting. 525 00:45:56,070 --> 00:45:56,610 Yes, sir. 526 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:04,680 The recording cannot care the microphone. 527 00:46:05,900 --> 00:46:10,560 Is there any consideration of inflation in this process? 528 00:46:10,980 --> 00:46:16,260 Any consideration to inflation, to find what you mean by that? 529 00:46:16,700 --> 00:46:27,140 I think inflation is a pretty common phenomenon, and it has been very prevalent in these last 530 00:46:27,140 --> 00:46:27,800 coming years. 531 00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:33,600 I'm wondering if inflation is considered in any way in this process. 532 00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:35,660 I'm going to turn a question back to you. 533 00:46:35,780 --> 00:46:40,080 Would you consider those sales that I showed you examples of inflation? 534 00:46:40,780 --> 00:46:41,020 Yes. 535 00:46:42,340 --> 00:46:45,880 So to answer your question, if you believe that to be true, 536 00:46:46,020 --> 00:46:50,320 then inflation didn't reflect market value as October 1, 2024, 537 00:46:50,900 --> 00:46:53,540 and properties have risen because of inflation. 538 00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:56,260 There's a demand for properties. 539 00:46:59,450 --> 00:47:02,610 And we're required to come up with market value based upon that date. 540 00:47:02,610 --> 00:47:08,530 whatever the sales are indicating to versus the basis in which we arrive at the assessment. 541 00:47:08,850 --> 00:47:14,410 Yes, but I'm still wondering if I'm just asking if there's any consideration of inflation. 542 00:47:15,150 --> 00:47:15,410 Yes. 543 00:47:15,570 --> 00:47:16,630 In this process. 544 00:47:17,070 --> 00:47:19,290 Because that, as I showed you, it was an example of inflation. 545 00:47:20,050 --> 00:47:25,130 Are you indicating that you think inflation is diminishing the value of your property? 546 00:47:26,570 --> 00:47:36,410 No, it's obviously inflation would increase it, but at the same time, inflation is not the same in our asset classes. 547 00:47:37,010 --> 00:47:39,070 inflation is not in the same way. 548 00:47:39,270 --> 00:47:43,190 Like inflation might be different for real estate compared to groceries. 549 00:47:43,550 --> 00:47:43,970 Absolutely. 550 00:47:44,530 --> 00:47:47,170 Compared to they wages and you're right. 551 00:47:47,790 --> 00:47:48,690 You're right. 552 00:47:49,390 --> 00:47:51,650 You're absolutely right, but we're only using sales of houses. 553 00:47:52,470 --> 00:47:55,710 So we're measuring houses and not groceries and not gasoline. 554 00:47:55,710 --> 00:48:00,070 So you're completely inconsiderate of inflation, is what you're saying? 555 00:48:00,090 --> 00:48:03,570 It certainly is, yeah, based upon those sales. 556 00:48:04,290 --> 00:48:05,090 Yes, sir. 557 00:48:07,810 --> 00:48:14,690 I came up with that driven by the COVID and the people wanting to get out of Newark, first. 558 00:48:14,890 --> 00:48:18,810 I think to some extent that's true, but there's just a man everywhere for housing. 559 00:48:19,310 --> 00:48:24,450 There's a shortage of housing and people are bidding and against each other to buy houses. 560 00:48:24,790 --> 00:48:26,450 And it's not just in Hamden. 561 00:48:26,450 --> 00:48:30,970 It is throughout Connecticut, throughout New England, throughout most of the country. 562 00:48:31,370 --> 00:48:35,210 These kind of increases what you're showing you is very typical. 563 00:48:36,890 --> 00:48:36,990 Yes. 564 00:48:37,430 --> 00:48:39,810 So since I have the microphone, how continue. 565 00:48:40,770 --> 00:48:42,710 And I think my book relates to yours. 566 00:48:42,930 --> 00:48:44,490 I just would say it a different way. 567 00:48:44,830 --> 00:48:49,810 So I'm so grateful to the town for being transparent about the processes here. 568 00:48:50,110 --> 00:48:53,610 And I hear you saying that you're trying to be fair and I believe that. 569 00:48:53,610 --> 00:48:59,690 I just want to say for the record that concept of fairness has nothing to do with my lived experience. 570 00:49:00,310 --> 00:49:04,390 So, hooray, that my house is now worth so much more than it was last year. 571 00:49:04,810 --> 00:49:07,330 But I'm not selling my house, I'm living in my house. 572 00:49:07,770 --> 00:49:10,250 I'm also living on a fixed income. We're retired. 573 00:49:10,830 --> 00:49:16,570 So, your concept of fairness is not working for me because you're raising my taxes. 574 00:49:17,070 --> 00:49:20,210 And I'm not having the extra money to pay those taxes. 575 00:49:20,210 --> 00:49:25,590 I'm living in my house great for my kids when I die and they can sell the house so I'll get a lot more money 576 00:49:25,590 --> 00:49:34,110 But that's not helping me and my life now. Okay, let me go back to the point you made you said we're raising your taxes 577 00:49:34,110 --> 00:49:38,850 Remember this is revenue neutral. We're just measuring it based upon the market value increase 578 00:49:38,850 --> 00:49:44,770 The intention is not to raise your taxes. It's to come up with a market value estimate that's fair and equitable 579 00:49:44,770 --> 00:49:48,470 The fact that you're on a fixed income, there was a program in the state of Connecticut 580 00:49:48,470 --> 00:49:51,630 for folks, which is called a circuit breaker program. 581 00:49:51,790 --> 00:49:56,890 If you don't have enough money and income limitation, you can receive a discount in a break 582 00:49:56,890 --> 00:49:57,610 on your taxes. 583 00:49:57,870 --> 00:49:58,570 I'm not poor. 584 00:49:58,750 --> 00:49:59,950 Am I living in a nice house? 585 00:50:00,130 --> 00:50:05,430 I believe it there for 45 years, and my taxes have, I don't think I've ever seen my taxes 586 00:50:05,430 --> 00:50:05,970 go down. 587 00:50:06,250 --> 00:50:09,350 So, if they do go down, I'll be stunned and very happy. 588 00:50:09,890 --> 00:50:13,150 Well, the fact that the mill rate goes down doesn't necessarily mean your taxes are 589 00:50:13,150 --> 00:50:13,750 going to share. 590 00:50:13,750 --> 00:50:20,990 It means that your taxes might remain about the same, so I'm going to just talk to you out, talk something through with all of you. 591 00:50:21,070 --> 00:50:25,070 Let's suppose the typical increase is 60%. 592 00:50:25,070 --> 00:50:27,750 Let's just say that the grand list goes up 50 or 60%. 593 00:50:28,610 --> 00:50:32,130 The milk rate can drop in accordance with that by the same percentage. 594 00:50:32,650 --> 00:50:34,750 But there may be some people that go up 40%. 595 00:50:35,590 --> 00:50:37,810 Or some people that go up 70%. 596 00:50:37,810 --> 00:50:41,830 The people that go above the typical increase are going to pay more in taxes. 597 00:50:41,830 --> 00:50:44,490 the people that go below the typically 598 00:50:44,490 --> 00:50:47,150 crystal probably pay a little less in taxes. 599 00:50:47,970 --> 00:50:49,950 So that's the way the process works. 600 00:50:52,620 --> 00:50:52,700 Yes. 601 00:50:54,340 --> 00:50:55,440 Just wait one second. 602 00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:57,300 They're gonna bring a mic to 603 00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:00,060 you. 604 00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:01,520 That's not the point that she's making. 605 00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:04,060 She's making the point is that you're 606 00:51:04,060 --> 00:51:05,860 a family that we're houses, 607 00:51:06,400 --> 00:51:09,980 inflating this houses by external variable. 608 00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:14,860 And we are not keeping increasing something 609 00:51:14,860 --> 00:51:21,620 we have, we kind of eat, we kind of do anything. I can ask them, my house, where will I go? 610 00:51:22,340 --> 00:51:28,380 Where will I go? I'm not here to answer a question like that. I'm here to answer the question. 611 00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:36,860 Some fear that you do all this and you, and we end up paying more taxes because believe me, 612 00:51:37,100 --> 00:51:42,960 we are now going to pay less taxes. Because you, the value of the house that inflated, the meal is 613 00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:45,580 going down, but yeah, but the value of the fellow 614 00:51:45,580 --> 00:51:50,860 doing Chris, and that is to me, my book is funny money. 615 00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:53,740 I understand your point. You've talked about 616 00:51:54,980 --> 00:51:58,080 somebody so the house, I'm not going to see that money. 617 00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:01,020 Okay, in the state of Connecticut, and throughout 618 00:52:01,020 --> 00:52:03,600 most United States, property taxes are based upon the 619 00:52:03,600 --> 00:52:06,460 assessment, which is based upon sales of properties. 620 00:52:07,500 --> 00:52:10,760 So market values have increased, and your assessments will 621 00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:15,060 increase, based upon the typical increases in market values, based upon your neighbor in style 622 00:52:15,060 --> 00:52:16,040 of host house. 623 00:52:16,240 --> 00:52:16,940 That's going to happen. 624 00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:23,200 What you're talking about are issues of social justice, whether it's fair or not that 625 00:52:23,200 --> 00:52:27,580 someone who stays in their home and has no interest in selling their home, should be assessed 626 00:52:28,100 --> 00:52:30,340 at the level of market value. 627 00:52:30,460 --> 00:52:32,560 That's what you're asking a question of out. 628 00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:38,440 In your perspective, it sounds like you're talking about a social justice circumstance 629 00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:45,060 where people who have been there for a long time pay less than other folks because they 630 00:52:45,060 --> 00:52:51,620 have not bought or sold their house. That system exists in California. California has 631 00:52:51,620 --> 00:52:57,400 an assessment system based upon sales. Every time a property sells, it gets reassessed. 632 00:52:58,020 --> 00:53:04,220 The other properties which do not sell stay assessed at the same rate until it sells. 633 00:53:05,340 --> 00:53:18,500 Connecticut is not like that, so I am obliged because I'm certified to follow the state law and that's why I'm doing what we're doing here in Hamden and I'm sensitive to your point. 634 00:53:18,660 --> 00:53:25,440 I'm in the same boat. I live in a house. I have no intention of selling it. I would like to die there. I've been there for 30 years. 635 00:53:25,440 --> 00:53:35,660 But I have to pay an assessment based upon the sales of all these other properties that may have motivations that I don't agree with. 636 00:53:36,340 --> 00:53:38,420 Somebody wants to come in and buy up five houses. 637 00:53:39,580 --> 00:53:42,540 That's the way the law has been written in Connecticut. 638 00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:44,600 Thank you. 639 00:53:45,540 --> 00:53:46,460 Yes sir. 640 00:53:48,580 --> 00:53:49,400 Thank you. 641 00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:56,400 This might be outside of your pervance, but is there any knowledge as to how much the mill rate will be dropping? 642 00:53:56,400 --> 00:54:02,520 just, you know, if you go from a house that was previously assessed around 360-ish percent, 643 00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:11,040 it's now assessed around 500, you know, the 55, mill rate goes from 15,000 to 25 to, you know, 644 00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:16,380 just maybe more pertinent because, you know, I bought a house in 2023. I can tell everyone here 645 00:54:16,380 --> 00:54:22,960 the market is shit. You know, out bid on six, seven houses, sometimes with 10 plus bidders, 646 00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:33,760 10% to 20% over asking, but of course the houses are worth more now, because that's just the world that we're in. 647 00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:41,580 So how much would the mill rate maybe dropping to help not pay another $10,000 a year in taxes? 648 00:54:42,220 --> 00:54:52,300 We don't know. And one reason why we don't know is we haven't conducted the hearing shit, which will cause adjustments, which includes not just residential properties, but commercial properties. 649 00:54:52,300 --> 00:54:56,440 We'll have people come in and says it was our income is not that high. 650 00:54:56,440 --> 00:54:59,680 It's changed from one year to the next, and so we make adjustments. 651 00:55:00,340 --> 00:55:03,440 We won't know the total brand list until the end of January. 652 00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:07,060 So we can't speculate on Millbury at this point. 653 00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:08,200 Thank you. 654 00:55:14,980 --> 00:55:23,400 Could you elaborate a little more about why there are neighborhoods, why purposes of re-evaluation 655 00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:34,320 in a city. What's the idea of a neighborhood and why are we evaluations, I gather influenced 656 00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:41,620 by this small geographies that have been set up and called neighborhoods? 657 00:55:42,500 --> 00:55:47,520 We do that and it's not the only determined in a value. Remember we talked earlier about properties 658 00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:52,900 competing across the neighborhood lines. So you've got a raise ranch itself in neighborhood 659 00:55:52,900 --> 00:55:58,160 20 and another raise ranch itself in neighborhood 19. They may be competing with each other. 660 00:55:59,520 --> 00:56:03,540 But the reason why we think about neighborhoods or do neighborhood delineations 661 00:56:03,540 --> 00:56:08,780 is that those houses are very similar to each other in square footage and age and they sell 662 00:56:08,780 --> 00:56:15,280 for around the same price. And when I went to look for a home, I went and looked at the neighborhood. 663 00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:21,160 I want it to look for homes that were well maintained or I want it to be near a school or near 664 00:56:22,040 --> 00:56:33,720 Starbucks. So people buy based upon location. You've all heard the expression of location location and neighborhood is a good way of defining what location is. 665 00:56:34,720 --> 00:56:40,380 You may all have your own sense of where your neighborhood lines are, where your neighbors are, where your friends are, and where 666 00:56:40,380 --> 00:56:43,360 Why you live in that specific geographic area? 667 00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:45,540 It's a reflection of the market. 668 00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:48,900 That's basically what it is. 669 00:56:49,020 --> 00:56:49,960 Is that an answer to your question? 670 00:57:09,570 --> 00:57:11,130 Because in that neighborhood, 671 00:57:11,470 --> 00:57:13,550 one neighborhood might be worth more than the other. 672 00:57:13,590 --> 00:57:16,150 Someone will pay more for that raise ranch. 673 00:57:16,610 --> 00:57:18,910 In neighbor at 19 versus neighbor at 20. 674 00:57:19,570 --> 00:57:22,650 And the sales data indicates that that's true to us. 675 00:57:22,850 --> 00:57:24,910 Or the sales data doesn't indicate that. 676 00:57:24,970 --> 00:57:27,890 And we equate them in neighbor at 19 and neighbor at 20 677 00:57:27,890 --> 00:57:29,930 or the same price for raise ranchers. 678 00:57:29,930 --> 00:57:35,070 It depends on a location and that's why we use all the sales evidence to arrive at value. 679 00:57:37,320 --> 00:57:44,800 The final real question to you and to all of us is, is that assessment representing market value to you? 680 00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:51,740 Whether we call it a neighborhood 10 or 20 or 30 or 50, it's the question always goes back. 681 00:57:51,760 --> 00:57:56,260 Is the property worth $400,000, and whatever that assessment number is? 682 00:57:56,600 --> 00:57:59,120 Do you believe you can sell your property for that? 683 00:57:59,120 --> 00:58:06,000 Do you have evidence to share with us that says it's worth $370,000, or $350,000? 684 00:58:06,220 --> 00:58:11,400 We'll be glad to look that over and review that with you, and then maybe reduce your assessment. 685 00:58:14,160 --> 00:58:18,740 Yes, sir. Let's wait just wait for a microphone. The mayor is running. 686 00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:24,440 It's a great public servant you have who runs with a microphone. Thank you, Lauren. 687 00:58:28,000 --> 00:58:35,160 If the neighbourhood factors are neighbourhood factors in terms of differentiating, according to the factors, 688 00:58:35,480 --> 00:58:50,440 whether the aspects that you just mentioned, my question is, what has been the rise in the one point of average of all neighbourhoods? 689 00:58:51,180 --> 00:59:02,260 What has, you want to know how much the increase has been throughout, what has been the increase in the overall 1.0 average inflation factor for all of him to have. 690 00:59:02,260 --> 00:59:05,380 It's around 61% and I'm going to share with you. 691 00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:07,600 61% over five years. 692 00:59:08,020 --> 00:59:09,120 It's over four years. 693 00:59:11,420 --> 00:59:12,600 The average increase. 694 00:59:12,840 --> 00:59:14,260 The grand list has expanded. 695 00:59:14,860 --> 00:59:17,380 No, no, I did not say the grand list. 696 00:59:17,380 --> 00:59:20,660 You ask me what the increase is for residential property. 697 00:59:20,900 --> 00:59:22,480 It's been, you asked about neighborhoods. 698 00:59:22,740 --> 00:59:27,000 It's about 61% is the typical average increase 699 00:59:27,000 --> 00:59:29,200 for residential properties in hand. 700 00:59:29,640 --> 00:59:34,420 And it varies based upon style of home, age of home, 701 00:59:34,720 --> 00:59:38,320 neighborhood, acreage, all these different variables 702 00:59:38,320 --> 00:59:40,000 that would affect the difference of increase. 703 00:59:40,720 --> 00:59:43,360 So you're predicting that our assessments 704 00:59:43,360 --> 00:59:46,280 on average will increase 61%. 705 00:59:46,280 --> 00:59:52,280 that's the average, right? But your assessment may not increase that much. It might be less or might be more. 706 00:59:54,540 --> 00:59:56,100 But just once again, based upon them. 707 00:59:56,120 --> 00:59:58,500 Or in just a lot of work to do on the middle rate. 708 01:00:03,540 --> 01:00:33,520 So my question is, hand it as going through this now. And I'm sure you do this for other towns. Are you seeing the same things across the state of Connecticut and other towns? I do know in my neighborhood, I'm in district one that we do see a lot of sales of houses and we have students. But I've also seen a lot of people from New York and Massachusetts moving in driving up the price. I per se, I'm a nosy person. I'm always on zill out. I always check my zip code to see what 709 01:00:33,520 --> 01:00:40,420 on sale in my neighborhood, what they sell sell for, and what the previous people bought for. 710 01:00:40,740 --> 01:00:45,300 So I've seen the increase, but it's handy. It's not, it's strange at hand in 711 01:00:45,300 --> 01:00:48,800 or you've seen, it's in all the towns that you're doing your assessment said. You're 712 01:00:48,800 --> 01:00:52,880 reassess, it's it. We're doing three other towns in Connecticut now. Man's field, 713 01:00:53,240 --> 01:00:59,680 Windsor locks, and weather's field, and increases all exceed 60%. And those communities have 714 01:00:59,680 --> 01:01:04,500 done about for four year distance of time as well. So it is pretty typical for Connecticut. 715 01:01:05,300 --> 01:01:06,960 It's not unusual now. 716 01:01:11,260 --> 01:01:14,560 It hasn't happened yet. Those communities are in the same time frame 717 01:01:14,560 --> 01:01:25,480 as you. I don't have that data off the top of my head. Yes. Happy life. Hey, you're right. 718 01:01:26,620 --> 01:01:34,040 One of the inhibitors to selling houses. Whatever price you think they're at is the 719 01:01:34,040 --> 01:01:40,260 besides of the property tax. So I think one of the things that worries me is if you say my 720 01:01:40,260 --> 01:01:48,470 house is worth $700,000, but my property tax is $25,000. I may not be able to find a buyer 721 01:01:49,440 --> 01:01:58,580 because people can't withstand that annual payment. The other lady said they're staying in the house. 722 01:01:58,960 --> 01:02:02,700 Is that in any way, factored into the fair market value of the house? 723 01:02:02,700 --> 01:02:09,340 Yes. And I'll tell you how, because the sales that we're looking at, 724 01:02:09,700 --> 01:02:14,780 all have property taxes based upon the current mill rate in Hamden. And they are paying 725 01:02:14,780 --> 01:02:20,880 those kinds of taxes. So when someone buys a property in Hamden before they purchase the property, 726 01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:27,020 if they're a motivated buyer and they're knowledgeable, they'll know what the taxes are. 727 01:02:27,560 --> 01:02:32,680 And so yes, that's how it's factored in. And in another community, for the taxes might be less, 728 01:02:32,680 --> 01:02:36,840 Maybe the cropping would sell for $750 or $7.25. 729 01:02:37,740 --> 01:02:41,620 But it's all factored in because you're all basing at purchase price 730 01:02:41,620 --> 01:02:44,880 on the existing taxes that have occurred here at Handon. 731 01:02:49,720 --> 01:02:53,320 So when I ask myself, can I sell my property for this amount 732 01:02:53,320 --> 01:02:56,300 and I'm looking at the Zillow estimate? 733 01:02:56,900 --> 01:03:01,340 How should I read the Zillow estimate compared to what I get from you? 734 01:03:01,500 --> 01:03:03,900 That's a great question. That's really good. 735 01:03:04,120 --> 01:03:05,400 I'm going to tell you a story. 736 01:03:05,400 --> 01:03:13,420 My daughter sold her house for $350,000 a year and a half ago and she based her selling 737 01:03:13,420 --> 01:03:23,320 price completely on Zillow and one day the Zillow price was $400,000 and she had an offer 738 01:03:23,320 --> 01:03:30,560 for $350 and she went to Zillow and Zillow said the next day from $4,000 went down to $350 739 01:03:31,120 --> 01:03:33,700 So she sold her house because Zillow said 350. 740 01:03:34,560 --> 01:03:36,420 The next day it went to 375. 741 01:03:37,320 --> 01:03:40,940 So Zillow changes up and down almost every day. 742 01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:44,340 You can look at Zillow. Zillow gives you a range of value. 743 01:03:44,940 --> 01:03:47,420 It's an AI model, artificial intelligence model. 744 01:03:47,900 --> 01:03:48,960 It is somewhat reliable. 745 01:03:49,420 --> 01:03:50,900 It's an indicator of value. 746 01:03:51,360 --> 01:03:52,640 It's not full evidence. 747 01:03:52,840 --> 01:03:55,380 You can't go to court with it and say Zillow says this. 748 01:03:55,820 --> 01:03:57,200 But it's a good idea to look at it. 749 01:03:57,200 --> 01:03:58,500 I do it all the time. 750 01:03:58,500 --> 01:04:03,500 I look at Zilla where I look at realtor.com, I think has estimates as well. 751 01:04:04,080 --> 01:04:04,480 Great. 752 01:04:04,480 --> 01:04:05,320 Thank you. 753 01:04:11,080 --> 01:04:11,160 All right. 754 01:04:11,300 --> 01:04:15,160 Who else are we ready for the boring math part that I'm really interested in? 755 01:04:19,460 --> 01:04:22,040 It helps so that you're working out and you're good at getting that count. 756 01:04:23,820 --> 01:04:26,820 It is frustrating to watch, isn't it? 757 01:04:27,300 --> 01:04:28,460 I'm so sorry. 758 01:04:29,080 --> 01:04:30,800 You know, you're right, it's painful. 759 01:04:31,680 --> 01:04:33,780 You know, I really shouldn't do that. 760 01:04:33,780 --> 01:04:34,440 You know, thank you. 761 01:04:34,440 --> 01:04:37,220 The first person is I use this all the time and a lot of my president. 762 01:04:37,500 --> 01:04:42,780 I teach lots of classes in a praisil and I use this all the time, but thank you. 763 01:04:42,800 --> 01:04:45,440 I will stop using it. 764 01:04:45,880 --> 01:04:46,440 It is. 765 01:04:46,440 --> 01:04:47,380 It is frustrating. 766 01:04:48,040 --> 01:04:48,820 Thank you. 767 01:04:49,100 --> 01:04:49,460 Yes. 768 01:04:51,930 --> 01:04:57,050 We moved a few years ago from Montgomery County, Maryland, right outside D.C. 769 01:04:58,170 --> 01:05:03,710 And houses down there, value typically would be two or three times. 770 01:05:03,710 --> 01:05:14,270 the market value houses in this area. However, curious thing was that taxes here are twice as much as they are down there. 771 01:05:14,470 --> 01:05:20,550 And this is in a suburb with GST. And so is it ultimately the question that we should be asking 772 01:05:20,550 --> 01:05:26,930 is why are we paying so much taxes and where are those taxes going? In other words, 773 01:05:27,670 --> 01:05:33,270 what are they paying for? And is there a way for the town to become more efficient in terms of 774 01:05:34,030 --> 01:05:43,050 It's expenses because that was a real shock to us when we brought up here, although we did well in terms of the cost of our house here. 775 01:05:43,310 --> 01:05:50,570 It was very strange to be in this area that our house is for so much cheaper and yet the tax is for twice as much. 776 01:05:52,010 --> 01:06:01,790 it has one of the highest tax rates in relation to the country. That's true. And it is shocking to see that. 777 01:06:02,270 --> 01:06:06,690 You're raising a really good point. Now that you folks are going to have new assessments, 778 01:06:07,070 --> 01:06:09,730 whether you agree with them or disagree with them, you're going to have new assessments. 779 01:06:10,730 --> 01:06:15,730 It's going to affect the military. This is the very time for you to get involved with local government 780 01:06:15,730 --> 01:06:28,710 And go to the Finance Committee meetings when they set the bill rate, look at the town budget, ask questions about why we're spending this on that, and get yourself involved, and suggest the bill rate should be something different. 781 01:06:29,290 --> 01:06:35,270 So you can do that, but you are in New England, which has high taxes in relation to market value. 782 01:06:35,670 --> 01:06:44,470 Typically in Connecticut, it's about 3% to 4% in some cases, it's 5% of the market value for taxes in Connecticut, it is high. 783 01:06:51,290 --> 01:06:54,290 Okay, who's staying for the boring thing? 784 01:06:55,690 --> 01:06:56,010 Good. 785 01:06:59,560 --> 01:07:00,100 Who else? 786 01:07:00,300 --> 01:07:01,880 Those of you who want to leave can leave. 787 01:07:01,880 --> 01:07:03,840 If you want to see a bunch of math, 788 01:07:04,200 --> 01:07:05,800 examples and some slides, yes, 789 01:07:12,090 --> 01:07:12,090 sir. 790 01:07:12,570 --> 01:07:14,310 Sugita, are we published? 791 01:07:15,010 --> 01:07:17,150 If we put this timeline up on the website, 792 01:07:17,730 --> 01:07:19,170 it is on the website, yes. 793 01:07:23,400 --> 01:07:24,260 Okay, there's a link. 794 01:07:24,400 --> 01:07:26,720 The presentation will be there and all of that. 795 01:07:26,900 --> 01:07:29,420 We really did try to give you as much information 796 01:07:29,420 --> 01:07:31,540 as we possibly could. 797 01:07:34,520 --> 01:07:35,360 We've been agreed up.