Welcome

Welcome to the Vision Appraisal Revaluation Information Site for Stonington, CT. The goal of this site is to explain the purpose for the current revaluation as well as to help the taxpayers understand what has been happening in the Stonington real estate market over the last few years. Keep in mind that your new assessment reflects a change in the market over a five year period since the last revaluation completed in 2002.

Update from the Assessor

As you may be aware from newspaper, television, and on-line reports, the Connecticut real estate market has seen a slow down over the last twelve months. It is important to remember that the slow down has not reduced market values to 2002 levels and, therefore, there will be a net increase to the assessment levels in Stonington. Since the downturn started in the last quarter of 2006, it is this very timeframe that is being used to develop the new assessments. Connecticut law requires Stonington to base its new assessment on the period from 10/1/2006 through 10/1/2007. In Stonington, the rate of increase from 2002 through 2007 was 54% *.

* The Warren Group (change in median selling price 2002 to 2007)

Please review the links to the right, specifically Taxpayer Assistance, Overview of Market Conditions, for more information.

Mill Rate

The real estate is one component of the Grand List used in calculating a mill rate. The other essential components of the Grand List are personal property and motor vehicles. Presently the Assessor’s Office in the process of valuing the personal property and motor vehicles and will not have a completed Grand List until January or February of 2008.

As indicated the current mill is not reflective of the 2007 Grand List. Please do not multiply the new assessment by the present mill rate. A new mill rate is estimated to be set during May 2008.

Frequently Asked Questions

Click Here for a list of frequently asked questions

Revaluation Summary

A Revaluation is the process of performing all of the necessary Market Analysis and Valuation steps to determine accurate and equitable values for all properties within a municipality. The equalization of the values within a City or Town creates a fair distribution of the tax burden. The purpose of a Revaluation is not to raise taxes. The purpose is to create an equitable distribution of the tax load.

See the flowchart below for all of the actual steps in a Revaluation.

Click on the stages in the flowchart for a description

Click on the stages in the flowchart for a description. Each Step of this flowchart is not necessarily part of every Revaluation.

Other Information

There is an excellent article reprinted here from The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy on issues pertaining to the property tax. (Click Here to read the article) Also, please see the video presentations on Revaluation.

Suggestions

We are always looking to improve this website and welcome any Feedback. Please note: this is not an area for posing project specific questions. Due to the individual nature of each project, we cannot answer specific questions.

Press Inquiries

All press inquiries should be directed to the following page - (Press Inquiries). We will do our best to direct the inquiry to the proper party and get back to you as soon as possible.