Friia Teaches Reval 101 to Sunrise Rotary

Paul Friia, Westport's Assessor, gave his Reval 101 talk to the Westport Sunrise Rotary Friday morning.

He told the group that the state of Connecticut requires all real estate be reappraised every five years.  He called an appraisal a "snapshot of values on a given date." For Westport, that will be Oct. 1.

Friia believes that recent changes in the economy will result in lower property values in Westport.

Westport alternates between on-site or "statistical" appraisals.  The 2005 revaluation was on-site where real estate appraisers visited every house in town.  The 2005 values form the base for the current reappraisal, which are then factored into a revaluation that also accounts for economic change and home sales.  The objective, Friia stated, is that "similar properties pay similar taxes," and that the town achieves an "equitable distribution of the tax burden." 

Residential properties will be appraised by Vision Appraisal of Northboro, Mass.  Vision manages the town's assessment data base, which can be accessed athttp://www.visionappraisal.com. A user can follow links to view an individual Westport property.

A commercial appraisal firm has been hired to assist Vision Appraisal perform that portion of the revaluation, and that their work will begin in May.  He noted that commercial appraisals are done on an income basis. 

The Assessor establishes an estimate of market value for each property and assesses taxes based on 70 percent of that figure – a percentage that is constant across the state.

Friia told the group Westport has about 10,600 real properties, of which 300 are non-taxable.  He believes residential property will comprise about 85 percent of the town's Grand List.

He said change notices will be sent out beginning in November, and property owners may question their reassessment through informal appeals with Vision shortly thereafter.  The follow on, formal process will begin early in the new year.

The writer adds, as a footnote, that whether an individual property owner's taxes rise or not depends upon three factors – the change in the total Grand List (the sum of all real and personal property values), the change in the town's budget and the change in the value of an individual property relative to the total Grand List.  If the town budget rises, overall taxes will rise.  If the revaluation results in an individual property value increase greater than the Grand List average, taxes on that property will increase.