PROSPECT — Development at the Regency at Prospect and the new CVS on Waterbury Road were the driving factors behind a modest increase in the town’s grand list.
The town’s 2016 grand list is $845,411,765, an increase of $9,766,473, or 1.17 percent, from the 2015 grand list, Assessor James Clynes reported to the Town Council last week.
The grand list is the total of the assessed values of all taxable real estate, motor vehicles and personal property in a town. The $9.7 million increase in assessed value equals about $292,000 in additional tax revenue based on the current 29.91 mill rate, Clynes said.
“I’m very pleased that we went up,” Mayor Robert Chatfield said in a subsequent interview.
Chatfield said Clynes is working very hard to get as much taxable property as possible to increase the grand list. He added the town will take all the help it can get when it comes to tax revenue in the wake of Gov. Dannel Malloy’s state budget proposal, which would cut state aid to the majority of municipalities.
The real estate assessment increased $8.9 million, or 1.24 percent, to $728,524,610.
Clynes told the council the increase is due to development at the Regency at Prospect, a community for people 55 years old and older, the new CVS, and a few new houses in town.
Clynes said the land and former buildings on the property where CVS sits brought in tax revenue, but the town saw a net increase with the new pharmacy.
“We don’t have a lot going on right now, although CVS was a nice addition to the grand list,” Clynes said.
The assessment of personal property increased $534,318, or 1.65 percent, to $32,912,715. Personal property is the property owned by businesses and companies in town. Most of the increase stems from the new items in the CVS, Clynes said.
“Most other businesses in town have not been buying much equipment lately,” he said.
The assessment of motor vehicles increased the least, going up $315,025, or 0.38 percent, to $83,974,440.
Clynes described this figure as a “moving number” due to issues at the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV ran into problems when it switched computer software last year. The problems included vehicles being registered in the wrong towns and appearing on the wrong grand lists. The DMV is still working to clear up mistakes, Clynes said.
Council member Patricia Geary said the increase in the grand list seems reasonable, since other towns have reported increases of less than 1 percent.
Top Ten Taxpayers
Yankee Gas…$8,578,700
Eversource…$6,922,440
Geloso Enterprises…$5,139,810
Prospect Medical…$5,086,050
Paulmar Associates…$4,088,500
Toll CT…$3,870,558
Connecticut Water Company…$3,137,110
Joseph and Vincenza Cassata…$3,074,660
43 Candee…$2,690,550
LRH…$2,426,730
The figures denote the combined real estate, personal property and motor vehicle assessments for the taxpayers listed. Figures provided by the Prospect Assessor’ Office.
