[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:00] 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.
[0:28] 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.
[0:41] 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.
[0:53] 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.
[1:06] 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.
[1:17] 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.
[1:33] So, there will be two presentations. The first one will be an overview of the reveal.
[1:40] And the second piece, if you've had enough of the first meeting, you're more than welcome to leave.
[1:48] No one will feel like they've done a terrible job or it was too boring.
[1:54] But the second one will be boring.
[1:57] So if you would like to leave before the second meeting, you're more than welcome to.
[2:01] You're also more than welcome to stay and see the algorithm and how the each property is calculated.
[2:09] But there will be a little tiny break in between so that if you want to leave, you can do that.
[2:15] Okay. All right. So, so Gida is our, our, our Fraser for the town.
[2:22] I'm sorry, our chief assessor. And then we have John here from Tyler Technologies.
[2:27] So, so he's going to give us a presentation. Okay.
[2:34] So, it's a mayor indicated. I'm John Valenti. I'm the Northeast Regional Manager for Tyler Technologies.
[2:40] I work in the area throughout New England as well as in the New York State area.
[2:44] I've been doing this for 45 years.
[2:47] I had dinner with my wife tonight at the Hamden Townhouse, and I was sitting there thinking
[2:51] I've done these hundreds and hundreds of times.
[2:54] So it doesn't necessarily mean I know a lot.
[2:56] It just means I've been around a long time.
[2:59] So I'm kind of old.
[3:01] But I'm going to walk you through the process tonight.
[3:03] If you have questions, don't hesitate to speak up.
[3:07] They'll be a microphone if you want to speak to the mic that would be helpful.
[3:11] This meeting is being recorded for future broadcast rather folks to listen to.
[3:18] These are the folks that are working on your project. I'm going to give you an idea of who they are.
[3:23] Celine, who is the project manager here. Has been doing this for over 38 years.
[3:28] Drew, who did our commercial and residential modeling for the town. Has been doing this for
[3:33] For 25 years, James worked on, as well as the appraiser, and he also managed our field
[3:39] crew.
[3:40] I have been doing this for 20 years.
[3:42] David Bost has been doing this for about 40 years, and Matt's been around for about
[3:46] 10 years doing data entry.
[3:48] See, you've had a staff working on Hamden who's well-season.
[3:51] There are not new people who have not been experienced.
[3:54] I also want you to know that the folks who worked in your project who did any appraiser work
[3:58] are certified by the State of Connecticut.
[4:00] It's required in the state of Connecticut that we're certified by the Office of Policy and Management to do our work.
[4:07] It's a series of exams that we take plus a series of classes that we take to adhere to that certification.
[4:15] So tonight we're going to talk about what is a reassessment?
[4:18] What's the process?
[4:20] And the change notice and hearings, which is about the phase that we're about ready to begin with.
[4:26] The data value is October 1st, 2024.
[4:32] In Connecticut, the data value is always October 1st,
[4:36] and it occurs each year for every time there's a reassessment.
[4:39] So this is our data value.
[4:41] So the question that I'm faced with,
[4:44] and Sajida, and Suleam, as well as you,
[4:49] is what is your house worth
[4:51] as of October 1st, 2024,
[4:53] or in another way to put it, what would you sell your house for on October 1st, 2024?
[5:02] That's the question that I have to answer, Sagita, Celine, and you folks about your
[5:09] property. That's the essence of the assessment. There are three key points I want to
[5:14] make with you tonight that you need to remember and the mayor talked about this earlier.
[5:19] The whole point of a reassessment is to create equity, accuracy, and fairness between property owners.
[5:28] That's the key three points of a reassessment.
[5:32] So why do we need a reassessment that the mayor touched upon some of this?
[5:36] It's been four years since the last reassessment.
[5:39] And what's happened is that values have changed and consistently.
[5:43] Some neighborhoods have gone up more than others.
[5:45] Some styles of houses have gone up more than others.
[5:48] some have come down differently.
[5:51] So because of inconsistent changes to create equity and fairness,
[5:55] you do a reassessment.
[5:58] The other earrings and is this thing called unequal assessments.
[6:02] Over time, if you've got two identical homes,
[6:05] and one of them changes, and the other one doesn't,
[6:08] the assessors become unequal if they don't report building
[6:11] permit information to the community.
[6:13] So there's new information that's collected.
[6:15] And it's important to create fairness so that people who have improved their home pay a fair share.
[6:22] And as the mayor mentioned, there's a state tax law that mandates fair and equitable assessments.
[6:27] It's called law 12 to .62.
[6:31] It's also important to do a reassessment to correct data that's incorrect and to collect missing data.
[6:38] So many of you have fears about a reassessment, and that makes sense that we do.
[6:44] Some folks are concerned that we find hidden improvements like you put a pool in without
[6:48] a building permit or you constructed a patio or did an addition to your house without
[6:52] permit.
[6:53] Sometimes folks are concerned about that.
[6:57] Another concern that people have is paying more in taxes.
[7:03] The other concern is governments will automatically spend more money, as soon as a reassessment
[7:08] occurred and sometimes people are concerned about a shift in the tax base and what a shift
[7:14] is is when one type of property goes up at a different rate than another type of property.
[7:20] For instance office space is not as desirable as it was four years ago but apartments are
[7:26] more desirable so they go up at a different level and those shows a shift that goes on and
[7:37] pay taxes based upon equitably established values that fear goes away.
[7:43] Collecting hidden improvements of your neighbors and yourself provides a foundation for fairness.
[7:49] Any shift that occurs in assessments by class also promotes greater fairness.
[7:55] And there is no cause all relationship when someone goes through a reassessment that they
[8:01] automatically increase spending.
[8:04] There's a concept called revenue neutral that I want to share with you.
[8:08] 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.
[8:18] So it's revenue neutral. It's a program that's not designed to raise revenue.
[8:23] It's designed to do equitable and fair assessments.
[8:28] The goals of the revaluation are to implement new assessments as of October 1st, 2024, using the best professional practices.
[8:41] 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.
[8:53] Many other states like New York or Massachusetts or Vermont and Maine value properties based upon 100% of value.
[9:04] So, and someone has always asked me, well, why does this happen this way? Why is it 70%?
[9:08] It's gone on this way for 50, 60, 70 years and no one really knows why.
[9:13] The legislature voted it this way and it's always been that way.
[9:17] So mathematically, if you have a house, it's worth $100,000, it's assessment is worth $70,000.
[9:25] Excuse me for a minute,
[9:30] it's my sister who happens to be in the hospital.
[9:34] She has stage four cancer and I've been concerned about her.
[9:39] So thank you for being patient anyway.
[9:43] The other goal is to meet or exceed the Office of Policy and Management Standards.
[9:47] So we're required to follow OPM standards as well.
[9:53] And we're required to follow use-pap standards, which is the
[9:56] Uniform Standards of Professional Prasal Practice, which we're
[9:58] Members of them.
[10:00] And we're also members of the IWO, which is the
[10:03] International Association of Assessing Officers.
[10:05] And there's a standard on Mass Appraisal there as well that
[10:08] we follow.
[10:10] In the end, we're supposed to target and optimize
[10:13] reappraisal methods and resources to focus on the
[10:16] needs while addressing the uniqueness of the town of Hamden.
[10:20] We're looking at Hamden as community.
[10:23] We're looking at sales evidence and cost information for the town of Hamden.
[10:27] We're not going to do haven or North Haven or Walling for it to get data.
[10:31] We're using data right here within Hamden.
[10:36] The data value again.
[10:37] We're supposed to assess the properties and market value and market conditions
[10:41] as of October 1, 2024.
[10:44] The market value, according to the state of Connecticut, and the International Association
[10:50] of Assessing Officers, has to be between 90% and 100% of the median of all valid sales
[10:58] as of the data value.
[11:01] Assessments have to be between 63% and 70% of the median of all valid sales.
[11:08] So we submit sales evidence at the end of this project, which the Office of Policy and Management
[11:13] or review and certify as to the validity of the reassessment based on these statistics.
[11:20] And tonight I'm going to share with you what those statistics currently are before we
[11:24] mail out our change notices to you.
[11:29] There are three key components here and folks that work together to create a successful
[11:33] reassessment.
[11:35] The first is the assessor's office who engages and helps us and gives us data to do a proper
[11:40] reassessment.
[11:41] The other is our company, Tyler Technologies, and finally we work with the Office of Policy and Management.
[11:48] And those three groups working together will do create a successful reassessment.
[11:55] There are certain phases of the reevaluation. There's something called data collection and data mailers that were sent out.
[12:01] So starting in August of last year of 2023, we started walking around the exterior properties here in hand,
[12:08] and to see if there was any measurement errors, or if the buildings looked like they had
[12:12] additions to them. And if we saw that, we would make adjustments and measure those buildings.
[12:18] We also sent out data mailers. Many of you should have received those in the mail that
[12:22] described your house, show the sketch of your property, and you had to correct them if the
[12:27] square footage was wrong, or if the number of bedrooms or bathrooms was incorrect, or
[12:31] fireplaces or air conditioning, you had a chance to respond to that and mail that back to us.
[12:36] that's all part of the process.
[12:39] The next thing that happens occurs between July of 24 and October of 24,
[12:44] where we did data analysis.
[12:46] We looked at all the sales evidence that occurred here in hand
[12:49] for the past two or three years.
[12:51] And in particular, we looked at the past year,
[12:54] because that's the data set that the state of Connecticut uses
[12:58] to judge the accuracy and validity of the reassessment.
[13:03] We've been doing that since July,
[13:05] and completed it in October of 24.
[13:08] What's coming up is what's known as final valuation review.
[13:12] We look at all the values, see if they make sense in relation to each other, for fairness
[13:16] and equity.
[13:18] And then we have something called informal meetings or hearings.
[13:22] And I'm going to speak to you about that process in a minute.
[13:25] But notice as we've mailed out very shortly, and you'll have a chance to meet with people
[13:29] that you have a question about your assessment.
[13:32] You think it's unfair or maybe you think it's too low when you want to come.
[13:35] and share information about it.
[13:39] There's a definition of market value,
[13:41] which you should all be aware of,
[13:42] and this is the definition of state of Connecticut
[13:44] uses in the definition of use bet.
[13:47] Market value is the most probable price.
[13:50] Notice it doesn't say the highest price.
[13:53] There are some states in the United States
[13:54] which practice under the highest price rule,
[13:58] not Connecticut.
[13:59] It's the most probable price.
[14:03] Which a property should bring in a competitive and open market
[14:06] with buyer and seller each acting crudently and knowledgeably, and not affected by undue stimulus.
[14:14] It goes on to say that it says of a specified date.
[14:17] We talked about the date, the date is October 1st, 2024.
[14:22] The buyer and seller are typically motivated.
[14:26] Both parties are well-informed and well-advised.
[14:31] A reasonable time is allowed for exposure in the open market.
[14:35] And payment is made in terms of cash.
[14:39] And it's unaffected by special or creative financing or sales
[14:42] concessions.
[14:44] These are the definitions of reaching market value.
[14:47] So if we look at a sale that occurs,
[14:50] where someone was forced to buy a property in one day,
[14:53] that may not be a valid market transaction.
[14:56] Because they were given undue stimulus.
[14:58] It was not offered on the open market.
[15:00] 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
[15:12] 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
[15:24] evaluation model or cost tables or algorithms, if you want to use that term, and something
[15:30] known as pre-review, where we go out and look at all the properties from the road to see
[15:34] if the data collected by the data collector makes sense.
[15:38] We have somebody else look at that, and we do final evaluation review, where someone once again
[15:45] from the road looks at the property, has a final value estimate, it looks at it relations
[15:49] of the sales to see if that judgment is correct and accurate, fair and equitable.
[15:55] And finally, the hearings, which we're just about ready to begin with.
[15:59] This is a data mailer that was sent out to you, in a picture of the house sketch of the
[16:04] property, swear footage, and a place for you to sign and correct if you wanted to do some.
[16:10] This is a sales map I thought I'd share with you with these the sales have occurred in the
[16:14] past year, here in Hamden.
[16:16] This map will be available to you and posted online on the assessor's website.
[16:20] So, you can see the sales that have occurred in the location of the sales that were utilized.
[16:26] The list of sales will also be made available to you online.
[17:34] What you can do is you can look online and look on who sold the property, who bought the property.
[17:39] That's available to you.
[17:40] There's going to be a database that's going to be up on the web.
[17:43] You'll be able to see every transaction that occurred and you can look at that information yourself.
[18:19] There were,
[18:32] with the question goes back to the definition of market value.
[18:37] Was it a fair or an equitable transaction that was the most probable selling price where
[18:41] both the buyer and seller motivated to do the sale?
[18:45] Who bought it is not part of the definition?
[18:48] It's a good question, but you're basing on the hypothesis that people overpay because
[18:54] they were corporation.
[18:56] That may or may not be true.
[18:57] I don't know the answer to that question.
[19:21] You'll have to look at information up.
[19:23] I don't know how many properties were bought by corporations.
[19:51] There are 518 sales as part of the sample set of sales.
[19:56] I don't think vast majority of those were purchased by corporations.
[20:00] I think vast majority were purchased by individuals.
[20:06] And the three out of the 518.
[20:10] Okay.
[20:58] Okay,
[21:01] 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.
[21:09] If it's purchased with undue stimulus, then it's a sale that we would utilize.
[21:13] 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.
[21:26] So, these are the sales and they range anywhere from 200,000 up to 2.5 million.
[21:35] You can see the vast majority of sales around $3 to $400,000 range.
[21:39] You've got a clustering of sales down here, some here, and fewer up here in Hamden.
[21:46] I'm going to share with you some sales that have occurred.
[21:49] I thought it'd be interesting for us to take a look at companies that sold three or four
[21:53] years ago and see what they just sold for now.
[21:57] Let's take a look at them.
[21:59] So this one here sold in 2020, four years ago,
[22:04] when the reassessment was done in September,
[22:07] it sold for $195,000.
[22:09] In July of this year, it sold for $330,000,
[22:14] or roughly 1.69 times what it was purchased for four years ago.
[22:20] That's an increase of 69%.
[22:24] I'll share with you another one.
[22:25] This is a condominium. Again, in 2020, four years ago, it's so for 94,000, the end of last year
[22:34] it's so for 165,000. 1.76 times or a 76% increased in four years. Here's another one in 2021 and May
[22:46] 359,000 in July of 2024, 520,000, it's a ranch, 1.45 times, or a 45% increase.
[23:01] Here's a sale in May of 2021 for 210,000.
[23:06] It's sold in September of 2024, for 320,000, raised ranch, 1.52 times, or 52% increase.
[23:17] Here's a sale in June of 2021 for 390,000.
[23:23] It sold again in 2024 for 579,000.
[23:29] Our 1.48 times increase or a 48% increase in value.
[23:35] Here's 1.21.
[23:39] 487,000 and 2023, the end of last year, 750,000.
[23:44] a 1.54 times increase, 54% increase. It did have enough the
[23:51] education during the period of time.
[23:55] In 2020, this one's so for 530,000.
[23:58] 4 years later, it's so for 780,000. 1.47 times or 47% increase as a ranch.
[24:09] 2020, a simple ranch, so for $190,000 in 2020, and 2024 in February, and so for $320,000.
[24:19] 1.68 times, or a 68% increase, they also had an updated kitchen before the new
[24:26] purchase.
[24:33] No.
[24:36] No.
[24:36] I have not seen any sales in Hamden where someone bought a property four years ago,
[24:41] and they sold it for less presently.
[24:51] 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.
[24:59] Yes, ma
[25:07] 'am.
[25:08] 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?
[25:22] So that presentation is going to follow this one.
[25:25] This is a generic overall presentation.
[25:28] I'm going to explain how the math is done,
[25:30] the calculations are done after,
[25:33] and that may affect your neighborhood.
[25:34] If you're interested in that,
[25:35] this also affects neighborhood 40.
[25:38] Everything that I'm talking about here
[25:39] with increased notices in the process of reassessment
[25:42] has to do with neighborhood 40.
[25:44] But do you want to stay for a more detailed presentation
[25:47] and the mayor called it boring?
[25:50] It might be boring.
[25:53] I used to teach history
[25:54] And those of you know, history a lot of students don't like history, and I was called boring then.
[26:00] I will try not to be boring for you when we do the math segment.
[26:06] So given that data that you, yes sir,
[26:14] I'm going to share with you a list of neighborhoods
[26:16] or in the next section you can see them all.
[26:18] I don't have the total count in my head, but I'll show you the entire list of those neighborhoods.
[26:24] And then we get a map that will be online.
[26:27] We can see the various neighborhoods as well if you're interested in that.
[26:36] I can give you a perspective of how we do it now if you'd like.
[26:40] So neighborhoods are based upon geographic location to begin with,
[26:44] whether it's clustered near each other.
[26:47] It's also based upon economic data, what houses are selling for,
[26:52] age period when those houses were built together,
[26:56] would also be helpful.
[26:57] And those delineations are made and followed and they're done through neighborhood analysis.
[27:03] So we look at sales in a particular neighborhood and we identify homes which cluster together based upon sales evidence.
[27:10] That's how it's done.
[27:12] Yes.
[27:20] They do change because sometimes neighborhoods decline and properties go outside other neighborhoods are going to other neighborhoods.
[27:28] That certainly is true.
[27:32] Yes.
[27:32] Could
[27:45] you repeat the question and speak up loudly?
[27:48] Or for closures are not considered to be part of a valid market sale.
[28:07] It has to go back to the question of market value, whether it's a market value transaction.
[28:11] If you and I, I sold my house to you and you and I agreed to it and was a market value
[28:17] estimate it might be a valid sale.
[28:19] One thing we did as you saw earlier is we went to inspect sales and we also sent out
[28:24] to people to ask them about the sale, to see if it was typically motivated, we would have
[28:29] removed it if it wasn't.
[28:34] I wanted to talk before I go into commercial valuation, which we're
[28:37] going to spend a brief amount of time with. After you just saw those sales transactions,
[28:43] assuming those are representative of hand, and I think they are, what do you think market value
[28:48] was increased in four years.
[28:53] Around 50, 60% that makes sense to you.
[29:00] Well, you're going to share some evidence with me later, aren't you?
[29:03] I'm looking forward to seeing that, yeah.
[29:06] So commercial valuation is a little different than residential valuation.
[29:10] We do look at sales evidence, but we also look at something known as income.
[29:15] We use something called the income capitalization approach.
[29:17] 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.
[29:31] In Connecticut, all commercial property owners are required to fill out an income and expense form.
[29:38] And they filled it out every year. They submitted that data to us. So we find out what their gross income is.
[29:44] their expenses for for management for utilities and so on and so we come up with a net income
[29:51] and we use that net income to arrive at a value. You should know this is not the income
[29:56] for the sale of goods or restaurant meals.
[30:00] This is the income to rent the space. That's what we're talking about.
[30:06] In the past four years, commercial markets have
[30:09] increased as much as residential markets. That's also probably not a surprise team. So commercial
[30:16] rents in hand and have only gone up about 10 percent in the past four years.
[30:23] If you look at
[30:23] commercial sale prices, they've gone up about 14 percent. If you look at the number of sales have occurred
[30:28] over the past four years, they've gone up about 14%.
[30:33] Apartments on the other hand, which are in a greater demand than typical commercial space,
[30:38] has gone up about 29%.
[30:42] This is the formula.
[30:43] You take the net income.
[30:45] Let's say it's $100,000.
[30:47] You capitalize it at a rate of roughly 10%.
[30:50] As a rate of return, you come up with value of a million dollars.
[30:57] I'm going to go back.
[30:57] It's also the data value again to review that with you.
[31:00] October 1, 2024, a 90 to 100 percent, 63 to 70 percent for the assessment.
[31:08] These are the current statistics that we have uncovered here in Hamden based upon our
[31:13] sales analysis.
[31:15] So we're currently at a 95 percent median assessment sales ratio, so if we're property
[31:20] so for 100,000, we would be around 95,000.
[31:24] The coefficient of dispersion, which is the distance and array around the median, is about 8% up and down,
[31:33] which is a tight coefficient, were required to be 15% or less were at 8.2.
[31:40] The PRD, which is a really interesting statistic, were at 1.01, the requirement is 0.98 to 103.
[31:47] I'm going to give you a simple lesson on PRD, which is called price-related differential.
[31:52] And the purpose of that statistic is to find out if we're under-assessing expensive homes,
[32:00] or over-assessing inexpensive homes.
[32:03] So the intention is to make sure there's no bias.
[32:06] Sometimes that happens during a reassessment.
[32:09] People under-assets expensive homes or over-assets less expensive homes.
[32:14] The last is the PRB, and I won't go into that detail, but that's a little more defined
[32:19] than the PRD.
[32:20] It's a similar sort of measurement of equity.
[32:25] You're going to be receiving a change notice in the mail.
[32:28] And that notice is going to look like this.
[32:31] It's going to have your name and address the location,
[32:33] the property, at the bottom.
[32:35] It's going to show the current assess value
[32:38] and the newest assess value.
[32:41] So before you open this notice,
[32:43] I'm going to suggest you do a few things.
[32:45] One is to answer the question I raised at the beginning
[32:48] of tonight's presentation.
[32:50] is what would you sell your house for? What do you think it's worth? Those are things
[32:55] to consider and you're being fair to yourself and to others if you think of that. And
[33:01] also before you open the envelope, you may want to sit down and you may want to have
[33:06] a drink or eat some popcorn which I like if I would rather do and then open the envelope
[33:12] and see if that number that's on there reflects what you think the property would sell
[33:19] 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.
[33:27] 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.
[33:36] And he always believed that and I talked to him for years. He and I disagreed on that one issue.
[33:42] In Connecticut, they're the same.
[33:45] There is no assessor's office number that's supposed to be lower than market value.
[33:51] We're required by law to make them fair and equitable at a hundred percent of market value.
[34:31] No, that's a really good question.
[34:34] I'm really glad you brought that up because many people do that.
[34:39] 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.
[34:45] And you're right, sometimes the old assessments are not reflective of market value, even back in 2020.
[34:53] In theory they were because it went through the certification process, but we don't multiply the old assessment times the new.
[35:00] 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.
[35:08] It's not always the same percentage of increase or change.
[35:23] Right. That's right.
[35:24] It's a completely different, it's a number, a final value estimate, and we haven't talked about the appeals process.
[35:32] But after the hearings go on, and we go through a process of hearings and appeals,
[35:36] you can always go through the board of assessment appeals and appeal your assessment that way,
[35:41] and then you can go to court if you wish to disagree with your assessment.
[35:46] If you go this one second, can I just finish?
[35:51] Let me just finish.
[35:55] Thank you.
[35:56] The way appeals work are the state of Connecticut.
[35:59] There are two ways of appealing your assessment.
[36:01] Section 118 and 119.
[36:04] 118 is an appeal of market value.
[36:06] You have to prove that your market value compared to what the
[36:10] assessor has is different.
[36:12] But you believe it should be lower.
[36:13] You have to prove that values incorrect.
[36:15] 119 appeal is a class action suit appeal.
[36:18] where you have to indicate improved bias on the association of the assessor.
[36:29] I'm going to explain that in the detailed section where the math is.
[36:34] Okay.
[36:35] Yes,
[36:44] the minimum number of sales.
[37:04] Just using three sales for 100 appraisals.
[37:09] Yeah, that would just be 3%.
[37:11] Yeah.
[37:13] Right.
[37:14] Yeah, typically we're closer to eight to 10% of sales
[37:17] in relation to the total population of sales.
[37:23] Yes.
[37:23] We can go back in time, the only thing that occurs differently, though, so I can go back
[37:29] two or three years or even more if I wanted to.
[37:32] But when we submit the data to the state of Connecticut, it has to be just that one year
[37:36] snapshot in time.
[37:37] That's a data that we're measured on.
[37:39] Yes, ma'am.
[37:45] They're comparable sales that could be the different neighborhood, because when people buy homes,
[37:50] they may look in more than one neighborhood.
[37:53] And that house that is in your neighborhood might compete with another neighborhood.
[37:57] So that's a good point. Yes. Yes, ma'am.
[38:12] We don't know that. We just look at the sales.
[38:14] We don't know if the college students have brought the value of the home up or down.
[38:18] We look at the transaction at the time, whether it's used for college rentals or not.
[38:23] 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
[38:31] college students, that would be reflected in theory in the purchase price, and we would have inspected the property and found that out.
[38:39] Yes, sir.
[39:01] Yes.
[39:06] Yes. Yes. Yes.
[39:15] That's correct.
[39:21] That method is used throughout the state of Connecticut, and I'm going to show you how that math works.
[39:30] So, when you get your reassessment notice, I'm going to suggest you ask yourself four questions.
[39:36] Can I sell my property for that amount?
[39:41] Are the property characteristics that you look at online?
[39:44] Because when you get to notice you can go right online and go to the link.
[39:47] And look up your property, make sure it has the right bedrooms, bathrooms, fireplaces, and acreage, or square footage.
[39:53] Is that correct?
[39:55] How much are the similar properties of my neighborhood selling for? You can look at that.
[40:01] How much of similar properties of my neighborhood been assessed for?
[40:04] you can compare it to other neighbors if you wish to do so.
[40:10] So suppose you've done that,
[40:12] and you think your property is over assessed or under assessed,
[40:16] and maybe you want to come and speak to us,
[40:18] you're more than welcome to do that.
[40:20] So what do you do?
[40:21] You could request a phone hearing if you think the value
[40:24] is inaccurate.
[40:26] In-person hearings are by request only,
[40:29] so they're done typically by phones.
[40:32] You can email documents to us before the hearings.
[40:36] Let's say you had an appraisal done recently.
[40:39] That would be helpful to submit.
[40:41] Or if you have photographs you'd like to submit to us or
[40:44] sketches or anything else you want to share with us.
[40:47] That would be helpful to submit before the hearing.
[40:51] Notice is our intended to be mailed right roughly after
[40:53] here we're talking about now about November 25th,
[40:57] right before Thanksgiving.
[40:59] Around Thanksgiving.
[41:01] The deadline to schedule a hearing is December 17.
[41:06] Hearings will start in the first part of December.
[41:11] The hearing results are going to be sent to you at the end of January.
[41:15] So you'll have a chance to come in and talk to us.
[41:17] We'll go over the data with you.
[41:19] You can share your information.
[41:21] We'll review that information.
[41:23] Review the sales of occurred.
[41:25] Review the accuracy of the record.
[41:27] And then we may or may not make an adjustment.
[41:31] We may make an adjustment that reduces it, but you still may not feel that sphere, but you
[41:37] receive that notice before the end of January.
[41:40] The end of January is an important time because in the state of Connecticut, typically,
[41:45] the assessors sign their grand list on January 31st.
[41:49] That's when they take all those assessments, add them up all together, and the assessor will sign that
[41:54] that's a valid grand list.
[41:58] The next set of appeals is the Board of Assessment Appeals, and that filing is between February 1st
[42:04] and February 20. You must file by February 20 if you wish to go to the Board of Assessment Appeals.
[42:10] In this state of Connecticut, the Board of Assessment Appeals is a local group of folks who are not Tyler Technologies,
[42:16] who can hear your case and review your value, and they may lower your assessment.
[42:24] So in the hearings, there are one-on-one phone meeting, there am in the corner that was a
[42:28] long time ago when I didn't have gray hair, didn't have a beard.
[42:34] You're going to have a chance to, you should be able to disapply and discuss appraisals
[42:38] you might have any purchase and sale agreements, closing statements if you have an income
[42:44] property, recent income and expense data, tax returns, leases, comparable sales, and
[42:51] 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.
[43:00] 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.
[43:08] Remember the effective data value is October one.
[43:11] The mailing of the notices around the 25th or so are hearing is going to be held in December.
[43:17] and we're going to send notices out the end of January,
[43:22] then the Board of Assessment Appeals
[43:23] takes over. February 1st, February 20th, they have their hearings in March, they make their
[43:29] decisions by the end of March, then you must file with a superior court if you disagree with
[43:35] what the Board of Assessment Appeals has decided. The next step is budgeting by the Finance
[43:42] Department in Town Council. That's between March 2025 and May of 2025. The mill rate will be established
[43:49] between May and June of 2025. New tax bills are going to be mail down in June of 2025. This tax bill
[43:59] is going to use the new assessments. Your tax bill, if you receive one in December,
[44:04] uses the old assessment.
[44:08] Tax bills are doing payable on July 1 of 2025.
[44:11] The last day to pay without interest is August 1.
[44:15] One thing the mayor said earlier that I want to reiterate, and it's in the notice,
[44:19] do not multiply the new assessment by the current mill rate.
[44:25] Then you will feel very sick and upset because the mill rate is going to drop
[44:29] because the grand list is going to go up a large amount.
[44:32] and we just showed you some of the increases earlier today.
[44:37] So in the end, we did some data collection, which was quality driven,
[44:42] detailed analysis, which we did in modeling, the accurate valuation done by review and hearings,
[44:48] and we really want to be transparent with you fair and equitable.
[44:52] So now, any question. This is one of my favorite slides. Yes.
[45:15] If the tree has fallen on your house,
[45:25] it's considered a maintenance item and not considered part of a reassessment.
[45:32] So we would think that you folks would maintain your property by cutting your strawberries or trimming your trees.
[45:48] Yeah, I'd have to look at the property. I can't be specific about it. Maybe we can talk after the meeting.
[45:56] Yes, sir.
[46:03] The recording cannot care the microphone.
[46:05] Is there any consideration of inflation in this process?
[46:10] Any consideration to inflation, to find what you mean by that?
[46:16] I think inflation is a pretty common phenomenon, and it has been very prevalent in these last
[46:27] coming years.
[46:28] I'm wondering if inflation is considered in any way in this process.
[46:33] I'm going to turn a question back to you.
[46:35] Would you consider those sales that I showed you examples of inflation?
[46:40] Yes.
[46:42] So to answer your question, if you believe that to be true,
[46:46] then inflation didn't reflect market value as October 1, 2024,
[46:50] and properties have risen because of inflation.
[46:54] There's a demand for properties.
[46:59] And we're required to come up with market value based upon that date.
[47:02] whatever the sales are indicating to versus the basis in which we arrive at the assessment.
[47:08] Yes, but I'm still wondering if I'm just asking if there's any consideration of inflation.
[47:15] Yes.
[47:15] In this process.
[47:17] Because that, as I showed you, it was an example of inflation.
[47:20] Are you indicating that you think inflation is diminishing the value of your property?
[47:26] No, it's obviously inflation would increase it, but at the same time, inflation is not the same in our asset classes.
[47:37] inflation is not in the same way.
[47:39] Like inflation might be different for real estate compared to groceries.
[47:43] Absolutely.
[47:44] Compared to they wages and you're right.
[47:47] You're right.
[47:49] You're absolutely right, but we're only using sales of houses.
[47:52] So we're measuring houses and not groceries and not gasoline.
[47:55] So you're completely inconsiderate of inflation, is what you're saying?
[48:00] It certainly is, yeah, based upon those sales.
[48:04] Yes, sir.
[48:07] I came up with that driven by the COVID and the people wanting to get out of Newark, first.
[48:14] I think to some extent that's true, but there's just a man everywhere for housing.
[48:19] There's a shortage of housing and people are bidding and against each other to buy houses.
[48:24] And it's not just in Hamden.
[48:26] It is throughout Connecticut, throughout New England, throughout most of the country.
[48:31] These kind of increases what you're showing you is very typical.
[48:36] Yes.
[48:37] So since I have the microphone, how continue.
[48:40] And I think my book relates to yours.
[48:42] I just would say it a different way.
[48:44] So I'm so grateful to the town for being transparent about the processes here.
[48:50] And I hear you saying that you're trying to be fair and I believe that.
[48:53] I just want to say for the record that concept of fairness has nothing to do with my lived experience.
[49:00] So, hooray, that my house is now worth so much more than it was last year.
[49:04] But I'm not selling my house, I'm living in my house.
[49:07] I'm also living on a fixed income. We're retired.
[49:10] So, your concept of fairness is not working for me because you're raising my taxes.
[49:17] And I'm not having the extra money to pay those taxes.
[49:20] 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
[49:25] 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
[49:34] Remember this is revenue neutral. We're just measuring it based upon the market value increase
[49:38] The intention is not to raise your taxes. It's to come up with a market value estimate that's fair and equitable
[49:44] The fact that you're on a fixed income, there was a program in the state of Connecticut
[49:48] for folks, which is called a circuit breaker program.
[49:51] If you don't have enough money and income limitation, you can receive a discount in a break
[49:56] on your taxes.
[49:57] I'm not poor.
[49:58] Am I living in a nice house?
[50:00] I believe it there for 45 years, and my taxes have, I don't think I've ever seen my taxes
[50:05] go down.
[50:06] So, if they do go down, I'll be stunned and very happy.
[50:09] Well, the fact that the mill rate goes down doesn't necessarily mean your taxes are
[50:13] going to share.
[50:13] 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.
[50:21] Let's suppose the typical increase is 60%.
[50:25] Let's just say that the grand list goes up 50 or 60%.
[50:28] The milk rate can drop in accordance with that by the same percentage.
[50:32] But there may be some people that go up 40%.
[50:35] Or some people that go up 70%.
[50:37] The people that go above the typical increase are going to pay more in taxes.
[50:41] the people that go below the typically
[50:44] crystal probably pay a little less in taxes.
[50:47] So that's the way the process works.
[50:52] Yes.
[50:54] Just wait one second.
[50:55] They're gonna bring a mic to
[50:59] you.
[51:00] That's not the point that she's making.
[51:01] She's making the point is that you're
[51:04] a family that we're houses,
[51:06] inflating this houses by external variable.
[51:11] And we are not keeping increasing something
[51:14] we have, we kind of eat, we kind of do anything. I can ask them, my house, where will I go?
[51:22] Where will I go? I'm not here to answer a question like that. I'm here to answer the question.
[51:28] Some fear that you do all this and you, and we end up paying more taxes because believe me,
[51:37] we are now going to pay less taxes. Because you, the value of the house that inflated, the meal is
[51:42] going down, but yeah, but the value of the fellow
[51:45] doing Chris, and that is to me, my book is funny money.
[51:51] I understand your point. You've talked about
[51:54] somebody so the house, I'm not going to see that money.
[51:58] Okay, in the state of Connecticut, and throughout
[52:01] most United States, property taxes are based upon the
[52:03] assessment, which is based upon sales of properties.
[52:07] So market values have increased, and your assessments will
[52:10] increase, based upon the typical increases in market values, based upon your neighbor in style
[52:15] of host house.
[52:16] That's going to happen.
[52:17] What you're talking about are issues of social justice, whether it's fair or not that
[52:23] someone who stays in their home and has no interest in selling their home, should be assessed
[52:28] at the level of market value.
[52:30] That's what you're asking a question of out.
[52:33] In your perspective, it sounds like you're talking about a social justice circumstance
[52:38] where people who have been there for a long time pay less than other folks because they
[52:45] have not bought or sold their house. That system exists in California. California has
[52:51] an assessment system based upon sales. Every time a property sells, it gets reassessed.
[52:58] The other properties which do not sell stay assessed at the same rate until it sells.
[53:05] 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.
[53:18] 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.
[53:25] 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.
[53:36] Somebody wants to come in and buy up five houses.
[53:39] That's the way the law has been written in Connecticut.
[53:44] Thank you.
[53:45] Yes sir.
[53:48] Thank you.
[53:49] This might be outside of your pervance, but is there any knowledge as to how much the mill rate will be dropping?
[53:56] just, you know, if you go from a house that was previously assessed around 360-ish percent,
[54:02] it's now assessed around 500, you know, the 55, mill rate goes from 15,000 to 25 to, you know,
[54:11] just maybe more pertinent because, you know, I bought a house in 2023. I can tell everyone here
[54:16] the market is shit. You know, out bid on six, seven houses, sometimes with 10 plus bidders,
[54:23] 10% to 20% over asking, but of course the houses are worth more now, because that's just the world that we're in.
[54:34] So how much would the mill rate maybe dropping to help not pay another $10,000 a year in taxes?
[54:42] 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.
[54:52] We'll have people come in and says it was our income is not that high.
[54:56] It's changed from one year to the next, and so we make adjustments.
[55:00] We won't know the total brand list until the end of January.
[55:04] So we can't speculate on Millbury at this point.
[55:07] Thank you.
[55:14] Could you elaborate a little more about why there are neighborhoods, why purposes of re-evaluation
[55:23] in a city. What's the idea of a neighborhood and why are we evaluations, I gather influenced
[55:34] by this small geographies that have been set up and called neighborhoods?
[55:42] We do that and it's not the only determined in a value. Remember we talked earlier about properties
[55:47] competing across the neighborhood lines. So you've got a raise ranch itself in neighborhood
[55:52] 20 and another raise ranch itself in neighborhood 19. They may be competing with each other.
[55:59] But the reason why we think about neighborhoods or do neighborhood delineations
[56:03] is that those houses are very similar to each other in square footage and age and they sell
[56:08] for around the same price. And when I went to look for a home, I went and looked at the neighborhood.
[56:15] I want it to look for homes that were well maintained or I want it to be near a school or near
[56:22] 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.
[56:34] You may all have your own sense of where your neighborhood lines are, where your neighbors are, where your friends are, and where
[56:40] Why you live in that specific geographic area?
[56:44] It's a reflection of the market.
[56:47] That's basically what it is.
[56:49] Is that an answer to your question?
[57:09] Because in that neighborhood,
[57:11] one neighborhood might be worth more than the other.
[57:13] Someone will pay more for that raise ranch.
[57:16] In neighbor at 19 versus neighbor at 20.
[57:19] And the sales data indicates that that's true to us.
[57:22] Or the sales data doesn't indicate that.
[57:24] And we equate them in neighbor at 19 and neighbor at 20
[57:27] or the same price for raise ranchers.
[57:29] It depends on a location and that's why we use all the sales evidence to arrive at value.
[57:37] The final real question to you and to all of us is, is that assessment representing market value to you?
[57:45] Whether we call it a neighborhood 10 or 20 or 30 or 50, it's the question always goes back.
[57:51] Is the property worth $400,000, and whatever that assessment number is?
[57:56] Do you believe you can sell your property for that?
[57:59] Do you have evidence to share with us that says it's worth $370,000, or $350,000?
[58:06] We'll be glad to look that over and review that with you, and then maybe reduce your assessment.
[58:14] Yes, sir. Let's wait just wait for a microphone. The mayor is running.
[58:20] It's a great public servant you have who runs with a microphone. Thank you, Lauren.
[58:28] If the neighbourhood factors are neighbourhood factors in terms of differentiating, according to the factors,
[58:35] whether the aspects that you just mentioned, my question is, what has been the rise in the one point of average of all neighbourhoods?
[58:51] 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.
[59:02] It's around 61% and I'm going to share with you.
[59:05] 61% over five years.
[59:08] It's over four years.
[59:11] The average increase.
[59:12] The grand list has expanded.
[59:14] No, no, I did not say the grand list.
[59:17] You ask me what the increase is for residential property.
[59:20] It's been, you asked about neighborhoods.
[59:22] It's about 61% is the typical average increase
[59:27] for residential properties in hand.
[59:29] And it varies based upon style of home, age of home,
[59:34] neighborhood, acreage, all these different variables
[59:38] that would affect the difference of increase.
[59:40] So you're predicting that our assessments
[59:43] on average will increase 61%.
[59:46] that's the average, right? But your assessment may not increase that much. It might be less or might be more.
[59:54] But just once again, based upon them.
[59:56] Or in just a lot of work to do on the middle rate.
[1:00:03] 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
[1:00:33] on sale in my neighborhood, what they sell sell for, and what the previous people bought for.
[1:00:40] So I've seen the increase, but it's handy. It's not, it's strange at hand in
[1:00:45] or you've seen, it's in all the towns that you're doing your assessment said. You're
[1:00:48] reassess, it's it. We're doing three other towns in Connecticut now. Man's field,
[1:00:53] Windsor locks, and weather's field, and increases all exceed 60%. And those communities have
[1:00:59] done about for four year distance of time as well. So it is pretty typical for Connecticut.
[1:01:05] It's not unusual now.
[1:01:11] It hasn't happened yet. Those communities are in the same time frame
[1:01:14] as you. I don't have that data off the top of my head. Yes. Happy life. Hey, you're right.
[1:01:26] One of the inhibitors to selling houses. Whatever price you think they're at is the
[1:01:34] besides of the property tax. So I think one of the things that worries me is if you say my
[1:01:40] house is worth $700,000, but my property tax is $25,000. I may not be able to find a buyer
[1:01:49] because people can't withstand that annual payment. The other lady said they're staying in the house.
[1:01:58] Is that in any way, factored into the fair market value of the house?
[1:02:02] Yes. And I'll tell you how, because the sales that we're looking at,
[1:02:09] all have property taxes based upon the current mill rate in Hamden. And they are paying
[1:02:14] those kinds of taxes. So when someone buys a property in Hamden before they purchase the property,
[1:02:21] if they're a motivated buyer and they're knowledgeable, they'll know what the taxes are.
[1:02:27] And so yes, that's how it's factored in. And in another community, for the taxes might be less,
[1:02:32] Maybe the cropping would sell for $750 or $7.25.
[1:02:37] But it's all factored in because you're all basing at purchase price
[1:02:41] on the existing taxes that have occurred here at Handon.
[1:02:49] So when I ask myself, can I sell my property for this amount
[1:02:53] and I'm looking at the Zillow estimate?
[1:02:56] How should I read the Zillow estimate compared to what I get from you?
[1:03:01] That's a great question. That's really good.
[1:03:04] I'm going to tell you a story.
[1:03:05] My daughter sold her house for $350,000 a year and a half ago and she based her selling
[1:03:13] price completely on Zillow and one day the Zillow price was $400,000 and she had an offer
[1:03:23] for $350 and she went to Zillow and Zillow said the next day from $4,000 went down to $350
[1:03:31] So she sold her house because Zillow said 350.
[1:03:34] The next day it went to 375.
[1:03:37] So Zillow changes up and down almost every day.
[1:03:41] You can look at Zillow. Zillow gives you a range of value.
[1:03:44] It's an AI model, artificial intelligence model.
[1:03:47] It is somewhat reliable.
[1:03:49] It's an indicator of value.
[1:03:51] It's not full evidence.
[1:03:52] You can't go to court with it and say Zillow says this.
[1:03:55] But it's a good idea to look at it.
[1:03:57] I do it all the time.
[1:03:58] I look at Zilla where I look at realtor.com, I think has estimates as well.
[1:04:04] Great.
[1:04:04] Thank you.
[1:04:11] All right.
[1:04:11] Who else are we ready for the boring math part that I'm really interested in?
[1:04:19] It helps so that you're working out and you're good at getting that count.
[1:04:23] It is frustrating to watch, isn't it?
[1:04:27] I'm so sorry.
[1:04:29] You know, you're right, it's painful.
[1:04:31] You know, I really shouldn't do that.
[1:04:33] You know, thank you.
[1:04:34] The first person is I use this all the time and a lot of my president.
[1:04:37] I teach lots of classes in a praisil and I use this all the time, but thank you.
[1:04:42] I will stop using it.
[1:04:45] It is.
[1:04:46] It is frustrating.
[1:04:48] Thank you.
[1:04:49] Yes.
[1:04:51] We moved a few years ago from Montgomery County, Maryland, right outside D.C.
[1:04:58] And houses down there, value typically would be two or three times.
[1:05:03] the market value houses in this area. However, curious thing was that taxes here are twice as much as they are down there.
[1:05:14] And this is in a suburb with GST. And so is it ultimately the question that we should be asking
[1:05:20] is why are we paying so much taxes and where are those taxes going? In other words,
[1:05:27] what are they paying for? And is there a way for the town to become more efficient in terms of
[1:05:34] 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.
[1:05:43] 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.
[1:05:52] it has one of the highest tax rates in relation to the country. That's true. And it is shocking to see that.
[1:06:02] You're raising a really good point. Now that you folks are going to have new assessments,
[1:06:07] whether you agree with them or disagree with them, you're going to have new assessments.
[1:06:10] It's going to affect the military. This is the very time for you to get involved with local government
[1:06:15] 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.
[1:06:29] So you can do that, but you are in New England, which has high taxes in relation to market value.
[1:06:35] 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.
[1:06:51] Okay, who's staying for the boring thing?
[1:06:55] Good.
[1:06:59] Who else?
[1:07:00] Those of you who want to leave can leave.
[1:07:01] If you want to see a bunch of math,
[1:07:04] examples and some slides, yes,
[1:07:12] sir.
[1:07:12] Sugita, are we published?
[1:07:15] If we put this timeline up on the website,
[1:07:17] it is on the website, yes.
[1:07:23] Okay, there's a link.
[1:07:24] The presentation will be there and all of that.
[1:07:26] We really did try to give you as much information
[1:07:29] as we possibly could.
[1:07:34] We've been agreed up.