Included in the article, are personal stories of West Haven tax payers who are unfortunately having to put their homes up for sale, and who are finding that the high taxes are making their homes a hard sale. According to the article, as of late last week, there were 549 single and multifamily homes for sale in West Haven at realtors.com.
According to local real estate agent Rick Chamberlin of Realty Partners CT, the length of time needed to sell West Haven properties has increased significantly, a fact he believes is compounded by the fact that real estate market in general has softened, butpeople are still trying to get top dollar for their properties. Chamberlin expressed concern that some of his clients trying to sell their homes could be forced into foreclosure if the tax situation doesn't come to balance soon.
In one case, a 76 year old woman who worked hard all of her life to pay off her West Shore home mortgage, thought her would have enough money to spend out her retirement. However, as her 2005 property revaluation (and although not mentioned in the article, the budget crisis in West Haven) has increased her taxes by 24%, she has put her home on the market. Sadly, while she can attract people to view the home, potential buyers have been scared off by the $5000 annual tax bill.
Many in West Shore would love a $5000 annual tax bill, though -- quite a few of us have gone to $7500, $12,000, or even $19,000 annually... crazy money. Some taxpayers in West Shore have increased by 100%; others have seen increases of $6000 + (more than the $4000 mentioned in the article).
There was another important point missed by the article, which stated in part:
The tax rate dropped but bills are higher because revaluation increased assessments on residential property far more than on commercial property.The tax burden has disproportionately risen in the West Shore district, as compared to the Center and Allingtown districts. While some assessments in West Shore rose by 150% or more, some properties in the other districts saw much smaller increases, of only 50-70%.
This year's city tax rate dropped form 41.09 mills to 27.96 mills while the city budget rose from $134.4 million to $136.8 million.
Disappointingly, the article reported that while Mayor Picard sympathizes with those who put their houses up to sale because of the taxes, that housing sales have been soft in the Northeast this summer, and that neighboring communities too will have their revaluations soon, to bring their assessments up to the same levels as West Haven.
He even is quoted as saying that this is a similar situation to what the city went through in 1991 (when our taxes doubled then).
What that statement fails to address is that it is not merely the assessed value that West Haven residents are so up in arms about - it's the taxes, which many cannot afford to pay!
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