Mayor Bill Finch is asking the state legislature to delay state-mandated property revaluation as the city seeks to regain financial traction in a difficult economy and delay a potential spike in the city’s mil rate leading to ear-splitting taxpayer screeching. Word in Hartford is Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey isn’t crazy about putting off reval.
If the speaker wants something to happen there’s a pretty good chance it will happen. If the speaker wants to kill something, well, it’s DOA. Finch wants to delay reval for several years. If that’s DOA he’ll take a few years delay. If that’s not possible he’ll settle for one year. If that’s DOA, time to invest in earplugs. It’s gonna get noisy.
Connecticut law requires all real estate to be revalued for assessment purposes every five years to bring about uniformity in property values and ensuring everyone pays their fair share, or so it goes. Your tax bill is a function of your property assessment based on 70 percent of value. In this economy property values have collapsed so as a general rule the mil rate approved by the City Council will spike to make up for the reduced assessments in order to fund the budget proposed by the mayor. On average, actual tax bills won’t go up as a result of reval, but the mayor will take heat because it will be much more obvious how much the taxpayers are paying.
The mayor apparently wants to avoid this spotlight at least until presumably some of the economic development proposals such as the Steel Point redevelopment area materialize and have an actual effect on taxes. Yes, it’s a leap of faith. The mayor wants to buy time.
Opponents to delaying reval, including the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, claim it’s poor public policy to put it off. The more frequently reval takes place, the organization maintains, the more accurate and fair tax assessments will be. Opponents also say delaying reval is nothing more than kicking the can down the road in an attempt to hide budget problems.
The mayor will be submitting his proposed budget to the City Council in about three weeks and likely different budget scenarios based on what happens during the state legislative session.
This is one strange budget cycle. Paging budget watchdog John Marshall Lee.
It is one strange city that we tolerate this nonsense. Every election for the last few years people like myself are out there trying to rid the Dem Party and the city of this byzantine mess that has destroyed the middle class and poor of this city and driven out much of what remains of even our light industry but no one will get out and vote.
“Delaying reval will keep current assessments in place and limit the financial burden to taxpayers in the short term until presumably some of the economic development proposals such as the Steel Point redevelopment area materialize. Yes, it’s a leap of faith. The mayor wants to buy time.”
The only way the “financial burden,” property tax payments, become limited is if the Mayor limits the appropriations proposed in his 2014 Budget that is already ONE WEEK LATE per the budgetary procedure, page 33 of the annual audit. But the Mayor is ACCOUNTABLE!
If the Mayor limits the proposed expenses to the revenue level from expected Federal and State cuts and local property taxpayers (contributing no more than in the current year) the taxes paid by Bridgeport taxpayers will stay level. Still high when compared to others, but not an increase due to Federal and State changes that amount to decreases in City revenues and not because the Mayor sneaks in “ghost positions or expenses” as has been done in recent years.
Revaluation as a practice has the intended effect of keeping all properties within a community assessed at a relatively fair level, congruent with market values on a certain date. That is the theory, and taxpayers do have rights to argue and appeal, actually more powerful than they do in complaining about the budget the Mayor proposes and of which the City Council disposes annually.
We are no longer living with October 1, 2008 property values. We have seen values decrease in Bridgeport, some places more than others. And some taxpayers have had values change for their property because of fires, demolition, building, etc. since October 2008. The longer we wait for revaluation, the greater chance that unfairness between taxpayers creeps or gallops in.
The expense of revaluation has not been mentioned, but it was funded in the current year 2012-13 budget based on discussions at the hearings last year. (Of course, things can change with the budget, and they regularly do. With budgets that are regularly late by a month or more currently (for instance the December, 2012 Monthly Financial just became available at the City Clerk office on March 6, 2013 instead of on January 25, 2013 as the Charter directs. And reports this year have failed to include an initial summary of budget and projected. And reports also are missing narratives on variances that would make numbers intelligible to taxpayers. And reports are not available online as the budget will be, and the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports, and the Charter Reform material last year. WHY NOT??? Where is the Mayor’s ACCOUNTABILITY? Can we trust the numbers that are reported or the explanations that are not offered? Does any of this bother you? Hold on to your snow shovels as a symbol of what taxpayers did when the Mayor was not there for the people of Bridgeport recently. And are we overdue for the Mayor to hold citizen taxpayer “listening sessions” where we ask the questions and he provides the answers? About the Annual Audits? About phony surplus reports? About Capital Budget info (where is it posted or reviewed in public meeting, per the Charter)? Ask your Council person for this info. What do they say? Time will tell.
Kicking the can down the road instead of buckling down and doing a real and thoughtful budget is typical behavior for this administration. Budget is bloated with pals, no shows and ghosts–not to mention 27 year olds. Come on Finch, step up and act like a mayor. You would think the mayor of the city with the highest taxes in the US would deliver a budget to the Council that has at least one foot in reality. No economic development, no recovery for Bridgeport and reval in sight. The budget needs significant cuts to avoid more taxes its residents can’t afford. Start there–in the here and now.
Baffled in Bridgeport,
Right on! You have the right basic message and it needs to be transmitted by many so our elected official will not only hear but heed.
Here we go again.
Bridgeport city of public outrage over bloated public salaries, invented or non-existent paid for public jobs, HB-5724, a citizen workforce who can shovel streets (their own), a small Billion dollars owed to city pension obligation bonds, unkept verbal financial promises to police, fire, teacher and other public employee groups, H&R Block report on Bridgeport’s highest tax rate in the United States, special treatment for those with political connections, a school system with a 70% high school dropout rate, a city landscape that looks like bombed-out Berlin c. 1945, it goes on and on.
Is Bridgeport swimming with the sharks; pardon the pun, but Speaker Sharkey you may have to get used to such observations on a national scale.
The political prize for such delay and deny, that such is the condition of Bridgeport, would be for you Brendan Sharkey a political prize equivalent to a Cracker Jack toy.
Attempting to delay the required revaluation is just another example of city officials not wanting to promote transparency or be held accountable for their performance. It’s time to improve the city’s governance system, and cut government spending, including the size of the City’s workforce. The City also needs to pursue ways to increase user fees for appropriate services and expand the amount of taxable property in the city.
On the OIB topic (above) relating to the City of Bridgeport being number one on high taxes, Bill Finch said this: “In defending his city to the Connecticut Post, Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch noted the average resident paid only $6,431 in taxes a year and notes that the city’s residents are “of modest means” and that residents’ tax rates are also affected by the proximity of far wealthier cities. The median household income in Bridgeport is just $35,379, more than $15,000 below than the national median.”
In other words, we can afford paying even higher taxes. If this is the case, why is he trying to dodge the revaluation by asking the state legislature to delay state-mandated property revaluation? Is this a contradiction or is it just one of those contrafinchions people seem to be getting accustomed to?
Mayor Finch is in fantasy land if he thinks we can afford higher taxes. It’s time to just say no to higher taxes and to any politician who supports them.
*** IF THE EIGHT PRESENT REPRESENTING BPT STATE LEGISLATORS WORKED AS A TEAM TOWARDS MAKING THIS HAPPEN, SHORT OR LONG TERM IT WOULD HELP IN MAKING THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE SEE THINGS IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT FOR THE PARK CITY, NO? ***
Joel Gonzalez, I have to agree with you on this one. Mayor Finch is playing politics, he cannot say any action he has taken is wrong so he spins that statement to look good and then he runs to the state to change the process.
Dave Walker, I have to agree with you on this one, but Mayor Finch will NOT make the changes you suggest.
Ron,
I hear you. A large and growing number of Bridgeport citizens are fed up with the lack of transparency, transformation and accountability in the city. If Bridgeport citizens don’t like where we are and where we are headed, it’s time to stand up and be heard.
In the 1990s myself along with all Bridgeport firefighters had our contract put hold as the financial review board took over the spending. We ended up getting two years of zero on our contract and have had over years of zero pay raises but instead we got contract language for our members. The State financial review board did work but there was no effort to maintain the results after they left.
Ron,
You are correct, the past financial review board helped. However it did not have adequate authority and its efforts were not maintained because of Bridgeport’s poor governance system. That’s why we need to take steps on multiple fronts if we want to create a better future.
New brooms sweep clean! Oust the City Council!
Delaying the re-evaluation may not be all bad. If we re-evaluate the mil rate will go up. It will never go back down. The raise in the mil rate will cause a devaluation in property value, business to move out, people to burn down houses they can’t sell, etc. Next time around another raise in the mil rate. Another property devaluation. It could cause a downward spiral. If we let this re-valuation go by, things may recover and house values will recover. In that time one would hope the administration will cut the city budget, grow the tax base, etc., but even if they don’t the mil rate can stay steady (at least not get worse) because the property values will be back to where they are now.
BOE SPY. If you put lipstick on a pig, you can’t hide the fact you still have a pig. The effective mil rate, which is to say the percentage of the actual market value of your property you are paying in taxes, is known and can’t be hidden from view by delaying reval. The State even has that information available on the web for each taxing jurisdiction. Raising the city’s fictional mil rate because the city’s fictional assessed market value went down doesn’t change the actual tax bill or the effective mil rate. No one should care about the city’s mil rate. They should care about their total tax bill. They should also care they’re being treated the same as everyone else.
The city’s mil rate is merely the value of the grand list divided by the city budget. Your tax bill is your prorated share of that budget. Your prorated share doesn’t change if everyone’s property values go down (or up) by the same amount. And a reval makes it more likely everyone is being treated the same.
There are only two things that will make your actual tax bill go down. Either the city has to lower the budget, or the grand list has to grow by adding properties or value not on it now. If everyone’s property goes up by the same percentage, yes the mil rate will go down but your total actual tax bill will stay the same if the city budget stays the same. Does a lower fictional mil rate make you feel better when your total tax bill didn’t change?
No purchaser looks at the mil rate. They look at the tax bill. If the tax bill is high, all the bad things you mentioned are likely to happen. If the tax bill gets higher because the city can’t rein in spending or do anything meaningful about development, then your death spiral becomes more likely.
The only thing delaying a reval accomplishes is to allow the Mayor and the city to try to hide how badly city taxpayers are getting screwed.
Booty,
You are right on. What matters is the budget and the percentage of the true fair market value of you home the actual property tax represents (the effective tax rate). Spending needs to be cut and the effective tax rate must not go up. In addition, delaying the revaluation is just another example of a lack of transparency and accountability by local government officials. It serves to reinforce the need for real change in Bridgeport.
Please don’t lose sight of the regional responsibilities Bridgeport takes on with the hospitals, resource recovery, academic institutions, state offices, federal courts and the like. There is no regional form of taxation currently therefore Bridgeport has a tax base with over 40% declared exempt. The Payments In Lieu Of Taxes from the State are never at 100% and the current Malloy budget proposal eliminates most PILOTS.
I completely agree there is much more work that needs to be done on the budget, efficiencies and consolidations. JML’s constant OATS analyses are right on target. However the lack of county or regional taxation cannot be ignored.
It’s time to look at user fees and not fully exempting non-profits from property taxes. They deserve a huge discount but some non-profits, including mine, already pay our full share of real estate property taxes via our rent even though we are a non-profit.
BOE SPY,
When a “scheduled” revaluation is conducted, it captures a change in values since the previous revaluation. If overall values are down (no matter what caused the decrease) then the mil rate will increase (even if there is no increase in that year’s approved budget). If overall values are up (no matter what trend caused the increase) then the mil rate will decrease (assuming no corresponding increase in that year’s approved budget). Downward spirals are about City Hall ignoring the impact of poor development results, overtaxation, and unreliable services … think of SNOW, EDUCATION, etc.
You can personally “hope the administration will cut the city budget, grow the tax base, etc.” but after five years of watching this administration play hide and seek with City info, there is precious little evidence or reason to sustain hope. If you think otherwise, please provide some specifics. Please? Time will tell.
No, I don’t think otherwise. I was just trying to be optimistic.
You are correct in everything you said but the current house values are more a reflection of our current economic problems than a true reflection of house values. We are currently experiencing a hiccup or anomaly in what is otherwise a stable economy. If we could expect our current low growth, high unemployment, tight credit and stagnant economy to become the norm then revaluation now would be a good idea. If we believe the economy will recover then raising the mil rate to meet the city’s budgetary needs would be a bad thing. The higher mil rate will stay in effect when house values return to some normal level. When you try to sell your house a potential buyer will suffer the mil rate plus a higher valuation based on the sales price. Buyers do look at their expected tax bill. This would make houses hard(er) to sell in the city. If the city revaluates now and raises the mil rate you will have to hope they lower the mil rate after the next evaluation when house prices have recovered. Do you want to take that risk? Revaluating now would be akin to making financial plans based on a week when you have been laid off. The plan would only be pertinent to that short, abnormal period in your employment history. Unless you plan to be laid off for the rest of your life.
BOE SPY,
You are flat-out wrong about mil rates. The city has no freedom in setting the mil rate, it is the result of a calculation. There is no risk of any mil rate staying in effect from year to year, that’s just not the way it works. The mil rate does not persist from year to year. It is calculated every year, by dividing that year’s grand list by that year’s approved budget. The city does not get a windfall infusion of money if the grand list goes up. Neither do they have to do more with less if the grand list goes down. They can only impose taxes to get the budget and only the budget. Nothing more. Nothing less. The mil rate’s only use is to determine how much of that year’s budget is allocated to any particular property. If your property represents .0001% of the grand list, then you are on the hook for .0001% of the city’s budget, regardless of what your property is actually worth.
The only real risk is the city budget going up. And given the current administration, that’s not much of a risk, but more like a certainty.
The revaluation takes place every 5 years, not every year. If house values rebound, every house that sells during that time could be taxed based on the actual sales price * the mil rate. Everyone who buys a new car will be taxed at the mil rate. All the old cars will also see a tax jump. Now the city knows the revaluation is coming up and they expect a jump in the valuation of property. Just pass a larger budget. Then we have something like this. We expect an increase in property values for a total of $1,000,000. We up the budget by $500K, the mil rate will lower to use up the other $500K. Before anyone realizes, we upped taxes and lowered the mil rate at the same time. If we only talk in mil rate, like when people talk in percents, no one will understand what is going on.
Why are you ratholing on the mil rate? The total budget and your total tax bill are the only important things. Don’t let the city pass a larger budget. Lean on your city council representatives to keep them from approving a larger city budget. If they won’t listen to you, vote them out and vote someone in who will. The city budget is your taxes, not the mil rate. If the city budget doesn’t get bigger, your taxes won’t get bigger. If the city budget gets bigger, your taxes will get bigger. No screwing around with the finances or the numbers will change this.
The grand list could shrink. I just do not trust city government. The are a tricky, scheming bunch. I would just prefer things stay as they are for fear of being snookered.
BOE SPY, you said:
> The grand list could shrink.
I think that’s a certainty, given the economy.
> I just do not trust city government. The are a tricky, scheming bunch.
Can we have an AMEN? AMEN!!!
> I would just prefer things stay as they are for fear of being snookered.
Things staying as they are won’t keep us from getting snookered. Think about it. Finch wants to keep things as they are. Isn’t that enough to tell you something? When was he ever in favor of something that over the long term was good for the taxpayer?
Yes, he may be leading us into a trap directly but he is pretty smart. He may be leading us from behind. A reverse psychology thing.
I do not mean to be augmentative. I just post things I think about and see what others think. If they seem to present good, sound ideas then I rethink things. If they just seem to be crazy, hold an unfounded opinion or state things without explanation then I discount their opinion. You seem to know something about this.
Thanks for the compliment.
What I think Finch is doing by lobbying to delay reval is he’s trying to hide just how high taxes in Bridgeport are in relation to the actual worth of the property. You may have heard of Proposition 2-1/2 in Massachusetts. That capped property taxes to 2.5 percent of “full fair” market value, which equates to a “mil rate” of 25 based on 100% valuation, or about 35.7 based on the 70% valuation used in CT. Bridgeport is about there now with a grand list having properties grossly overvalued. If properties were fairly valued at today’s market conditions, the city would probably blow right past that.
Even though a reval is revenue neutral (on average your total tax bill doesn’t change, despite Finch lying about this to try to sell delaying reval), rubbing people’s noses in how badly Bridgeport taxpayers are being screwed will get their attention and should provide some impetus for people to work on fixing the problem of out-of-control city spending. There’s no way he wants this to happen, therefore he’s trying to end-around the whole issue and keep it quiet. Hopefully Sharkey is smart enough to realize this is going on and not participate in Finch’s coverup.
“You are correct in everything you said but the current house values are more a reflection of our current economic problems than a true reflection of house values. We are currently experiencing a hiccup or anomaly in what is otherwise a stable economy.”–BOE SPY
I have been helped by certain facts and information you have posted on OIB. However I think you stepped into quicksand with this above comment. Instead of a “stable economy” as you describe it, we are at the end of a long period of decreasing returns on fixed dollar assets that provide you with little bond return unless you go out decades and subject yourself to risk of capital loss. And to almost no return on money market or fixed dollar investments. And what if the equity market was subject to “manipulations from on high” that are unsustainable long term and leave many stocks overvalued in historical terms? And then you looked at real estate and you seem to think each property has an intrinsic value (which owners are entitled to expect, although it is not guaranteed) rather than one which is shaped primarily by the forces of supply and demand. And if income taxes and payroll taxes are headed up, and prices for gasoline and food and electricity and health insurance are increasing, and it’s tough to save money then where are the young buyers for your home??? And is tight credit because there is no money in the system, or because banks have raised their standards for qualified buyers and it is tough to be in that group? How many are not worried about their job and earning a living?
About the Bridgeport real estate market: And the Mayor cannot curb his appetite for spending your money? And he is late to post the budget again as he is with monthly financial reports? And where is your watchdog, today? And where can you speak in the City where someone in office is listening? And cares? Is there “blood in the streets” yet relative to the decrease in housing market values? Time will tell.
I do not know about a ‘long period.’ This has been going on for 5 years, maybe. Our current situation is a reset from the housing bubble of 2000 – 2008. These things have happened before. We have had a number of recessions and a depression in the past. The recession we are in is not even an ‘across the board’ thing. Some things have done really well (Apple, silver, gold) while others not so much (GM, Enron, Worldcom). Most investments are back to where they were and most people’s 401Ks have rebounded or exceed their 2009 values.
I have to admit, I rarely read your posts in their entirety. I read real slow and you type fast. I hope the city does see a change in leadership. If for nothing other than to see a sweep of all the political hacks away. I do not think that will happen. Look at the fuss that resulted from the appointed BOE. What would happen when the city council is replaced by an appointed finance board? They wouldn’t be replaced but the board would assume a good deal of their duties.
You are correct in saying home prices are a supply and demand thing but home prices are artificially low. There is a demand but people are not pulling the trigger. This could be from people being too trigger-shy to buy, waiting for a bottom or overestimating the problem and looking outside their price range. Some towns are rebounding more quickly than others. BPT is not rebounding quickly.
When we talk about markets and market behavior it is instructive to look at mid-term and long-term market behavior. And bubbles occur in stock markets with a high-tech bubble, in real estate markets with no downpayment, no oversight and low rates, and other markets historically.
On March 5, 2013 a stock market commentator pointed out the equity markets had reached the same point, a high, that it had previously reached in October 2007. He noted the euphoria about the rise and those celebrating were perhaps not realizing gold as an investment had risen 115% in that same period.
We likely will not have a Finance Board with any substantive power, unless it is imposed by the State (as it was in the past) and then it will be because the cupboard is empty. Time will tell.
*** LET’S KEEP IN MIND ALSO IT’S A 70% REVALUE PROPERTY “ESTIMATE,” NOT 100%. ALSO, YOU COULD HAVE THE WORST CADDYSHACK ON THE BLOCK AND BE ESTIMATED AT A HIGHER REVALUE AMOUNT THAN OTHER NICE PROPERTIES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD! ALONG WITH AN ABATEMENT APPEAL PROCESS THAT SEEMS BIASED AT TIMES THUS LEAVING THE WHOLE REVALUE SYSTEM IN NEED OF A NEW REASSESSMENT OF THE ENTIRE PROCESS. ***
Lenny and OIB fans:
This is completely off topic, but I think the Thrilla from Manila cardinal is going to be slipping on those red Ferragamo shoes at the V. Any wagers? How about two baluts and a San Miguel to start?
Cardinal Scola is the high probability. But it is not likely. Can you imagine … POPE SCOLA?
Bottom line? You can’t sell any house in Bpt. Poor slobs like me who bought a tiny house 10 years ago are now paying 5 grand in taxes a year. I would gladly SELL my crummy shack to anyone for the “assessment value”. But their value could be one hundred bucks or a million. Your house in BPT has NO value, since NO one will buy it. (Thanks to high taxes, high crime and corruption.) But on the bright side? No out-of-towners are getting their ashes hauled in any massage parlors here.
Off topic but did anyone else notice in Sunday’s paper Curwen sold his house? If the transaction hit the paper, I would assume it sold at least two weeks ago if not longer. So now what is the hold up? He no longer lives or owns property in the 138th. Yet no replacement for him yet. Are they still looking for the perfect yes man who will kiss Martha’s ass? The seat has been vacant for a while. Budget season is upon us and yet the 138th only has one council person. I am still hearing rumors about his son or Marella replacing him. I doubt Finch, Mario or Martha really want the son, but stranger things have happened. Anybody hearing anything?
barney,
Thanks for raising the issue about the “under representation of your district.”
What I have heard is Council President McCarthy will take up the “slack” on B&A by sitting in Curwen’s stead. Certainly a possibility as he has helped other CC Committees get to quorum previously. But does he have the knowledge? Desire? Unconflicted attitude? To look at three or four administration-prepared budgets and go for the one with NO TAX INCREASE? Do any of the City Council representatives who all face the voters next fall? Remember the SNOW SHOVEL and the “listening Mayor” and the “silent Council!!” Time will tell.
Tom McCarthy can’t be on the B&A Committee. He has a clear conflict of interest as a city employee. He shouldn’t even be discussing or voting on the city budget because he is a city employee. In fact, no city employee should be discussing or voting on the budget. It’s blatantly unethical. In addition, if any federal funds are involved it is a federal criminal offense.
*** What’s the rush? The seat will remain open ’til election time in Nov. *** ‘Til Then, You’ll Remember When, ‘Til Then! ***
Does anyone notice the last Harvey Hubbell Building coming down on State Street? It is insanity this building with parking garage in excellent condition is coming down. To avoid taxes. Why did the City not relocate the police division there they just spent so much money on a couple of blocks away? These demolitions will lower the grand list and increase our taxes!
Buildings coming down in industrial areas to save taxes? Old underused or vacant buildings burning down to also reduce values? The City buying up buildings or land for reuse in taxable enterprises? Or by paying a market price, allowing it to decline in value and then sell it for less than the taxpayer paid initially? Or purchasing property that is taxpaying but now will be used for City needs, thus pushing added taxpaying responsibility to the residential owner???
Who is keeping a scorecard on this? Our ACCOUNTABLE Mayor or one of his many aides? Perhaps the media will ask Adam Wood for a comment from the silent corner. This behavior has been going on before David Kooris, but what does it add up to? (You cannot kill your parents and then plead with the community to have pity on you because you are an orphan!!! That is what the Mayor has been doing with land area and taxable land statistics for six years. Time will tell.
We closed the massage parlors and kept the biggest whorehouse!