18 Hartford Business Journal • July 8, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com
SPECIAL REPORT: CITIES PROJECT
Solution: Rebalance the city's tax burden
By Matt Pilon & Greg Bordonaro
H
artford is the only mu-
nicipality in Connecticut
allowed to treat residential
property owners differ-
ently from owners of commercial or
industrial property.
Homeowners in Hartford pay taxes
on 35 percent of the market value of
their properties, while commercial
owners pay taxes on 70 percent of mar-
ket value, like the rest of Connecticut.
That bifurcated structure, along with
a 74.29 mill rate, sacks Hartford com-
mercial property owners and business-
es with one of the highest property-tax
burdens in the country. Conversely,
homeowners have tax rates on par or
below neighboring towns.
There is a formula in place that
gradually raises the residential as-
sessment ratio to 70 percent, but it
will take decades before it gets there,
according to City Assessor John Philip.
A number of groups over the years,
including the MetroHartford Alliance,
have called for equalizing the assess-
ment ratios more quickly in order to
Hartford Assessor John S. Philip in his office. Philip said it will take many years for the city's residential assessment ratio to
equalize with the commercial ratio.
>> Solution Oriented continued
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