Sec. 12-62. Revaluation of real estate. Regulations. Certain Indian lands exempt. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 12-62. Revaluation of real estate. Regulations. Certain Indian lands exempt. (a) As used in this chapter:

      (1) "Assessor" means the person responsible for establishing property assessments for purposes of a town's grand list and includes a board of assessors;

      (2) "Field review" means the process by which an assessor, a member of an assessor's staff or person designated by an assessor examines each parcel of real property in its neighborhood setting, compares observable attributes to those listed on such parcel's corresponding property record, makes any necessary corrections based on such observation and verifies that such parcel's attributes are accounted for in the valuation being developed for a revaluation;

      (3) "Full inspection" or "fully inspect" means to measure or verify the exterior dimensions of a building or structure and to enter and examine the interior of such building or structure in order to observe and record or verify the characteristics and conditions thereof, provided permission to enter such interior is granted by the property owner or an adult occupant;

      (4) "Real property" means all the property described in section 12-64;

      (5) "Revaluation" or "revalue" means to establish the present true and actual value of all real property in a town as of a specific assessment date;

      (6) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, or said secretary's designee; and

      (7) "Town" means any town, consolidated town and city or consolidated town and borough.

      (b) (1) Commencing October 1, 2006, each town shall implement a revaluation not later than the first day of October that follows, by five years, the October first assessment date on which the town's previous revaluation became effective, provided, a town that opted to defer a revaluation, pursuant to section 12-62l, shall implement a revaluation not later than the first day of October that follows, by five years, the October first assessment date on which the town's deferred revaluation became effective. The town shall use assessments derived from each such revaluation for the purpose of levying property taxes for the assessment year in which such revaluation is effective and for each assessment year that follows until the ensuing revaluation becomes effective.

      (2) When conducting a revaluation, an assessor shall use generally accepted mass appraisal methods which may include, but need not be limited to, the market sales comparison approach to value, the cost approach to value and the income approach to value. Prior to the completion of each revaluation, the assessor shall conduct a field review. Except in a town that has a single assessor, the members of the board of assessors shall approve, by majority vote, all valuations established for a revaluation.

      (3) An assessor, member of an assessor's staff or person designated by an assessor may, at any time, fully inspect any parcel of improved real property in order to ascertain or verify the accuracy of data listed on the assessor's property record for such parcel. Except as provided in subdivision (4) of this subsection, the assessor shall fully inspect each such parcel once in every ten assessment years, provided, if the full inspection of any such parcel occurred in an assessment year preceding that commencing October 1, 1996, the assessor shall fully inspect such parcel not later than the first day of October of 2009, and shall thereafter fully inspect such parcel in accordance with this section. Nothing in this subsection shall require the assessor to fully inspect all of a town's improved real property parcels in the same assessment year and in no case shall an assessor be required to fully inspect any such parcel more than once during every ten assessment years.

      (4) An assessor may, at any time during the period in which a full inspection of each improved parcel of real property is required, send a questionnaire to the owner of such parcel to (A) obtain information concerning the property's acquisition, and (B) obtain verification of the accuracy of data listed on the assessor's property record for such parcel. An assessor shall develop and institute a quality assurance program with respect to responses received to such questionnaires. If satisfied with the results of said program concerning such questionnaires, the assessor may fully inspect only those parcels of improved real property for which satisfactory verification of data listed on the assessor's property record has not been obtained and is otherwise unavailable. The full inspection requirement in subdivision (3) of this subsection shall not apply to any parcel of improved real property for which the assessor obtains satisfactory verification of data listed on the assessor's property record.

      (c) The following shall be available for public inspection in the assessor's office, in the manner provided for access to public records in subsection (a) of section 1-210, not later than the date written notices of real property valuations are mailed in accordance with subsection (f) of this section: (1) Any criteria, guidelines, price schedules or statement of procedures used in such revaluation by the assessor or by any revaluation company that the assessor designates to perform mass appraisal or field review functions, all of which shall continue to be available for public inspection until the town's next revaluation becomes effective; and (2) a compilation of all real property sales in each neighborhood for the twelve months preceding the date on which each revaluation is effective, the selling prices of which are representative of the fair market values of the properties sold, which compilation shall continue to be available for public inspection for a period of not less than twelve months immediately following a revaluation's effective date. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to permit the assessor to post a plan or drawing of a dwelling unit of a residential property's interior on the Internet or to otherwise publish such plan or drawing.

      (d) (1) The chief executive officer of a town shall notify the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management that the town is effecting a revaluation by sending a written notice to the secretary not later than thirty days after the date on which such town's assessor signs a grand list that reflects assessments of real property derived from a revaluation. Any town that fails to effect a revaluation for the assessment date required by this section shall be subject to a penalty effective for the fiscal year commencing on the first day of July following such assessment date, and continuing for each successive fiscal year in which the town fails to levy taxes on the basis of such revaluation, provided the secretary shall not impose such penalty with respect to any assessment year in which the provisions of subsection (b) of section 12-117 are applicable. Such penalty shall be the forfeit of the amount otherwise allocable to such town pursuant to section 7-536, and the loss of fifty per cent of the amount of the grant that is payable to such town pursuant to sections 3-55i, 3-55j and 3-55k. Upon imposing said penalty, the secretary shall notify the chief executive officer of the amount of the town's forfeiture for said fiscal year and that the secretary's certification to the State Comptroller for the payments of such grant in said year shall reflect the required reduction.

      (2) The secretary may waive such penalty if, in the secretary's opinion, there appears to be reasonable cause for the town not having implemented a revaluation for the required assessment date, provided the chief executive officer of the town submits a written request for such waiver. Reasonable cause shall include: (A) An extraordinary circumstance or an act of God, (B) the failure on the part of any revaluation company to complete its contractual duties in a time and manner allowing for the implementation of such revaluation, and provided the town imposed the sanctions for such failure provided in a contract executed with said company, (C) the assessor's death or incapacitation during the conduct of a revaluation, which results in a delay of its implementation, or (D) an order by the superior court for the judicial district in which the town is located postponing such revaluation, or the potential for such an order with respect to a proceeding brought before said court. The chief executive officer shall submit such written request to the secretary not earlier than thirty business days after the date on which the assessor signs a grand list that does not reflect real property assessments based on values established for such required revaluation, and not later than thirty days preceding the July first commencement date of the fiscal year in which said penalty is applicable. Such request shall include the reason for the failure of the town to comply with the provisions of subsection (b) of this section. The chief executive officer of such town shall promptly provide any additional information regarding such failure that the secretary may require. Not later than sixty days after receiving such request and any such additional information, the secretary shall notify the chief executive officer of the secretary's decision to grant or deny the waiver requested, provided the secretary may delay a decision regarding a waiver related to a potential court order until not later than sixty days after the date such court renders the decision. The secretary shall not grant a penalty waiver under the provisions of this subsection with respect to consecutive years unless the General Assembly approves such action.

      (e) When conducting a revaluation, an assessor may designate a revaluation company certified in accordance with section 12-2b to perform property data collection, analysis of such data and any mass appraisal valuation or field review functions, pursuant to a method or methods the assessor approves, and may require such company to prepare and mail the valuation notices required by subsection (f) of this section, provided nothing in this subsection shall relieve any assessor of any other requirement relating to such revaluation imposed by any provisions of the general statutes, any public or special act, the provisions of any municipal charter that are not inconsistent with the requirements of this section, or any regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (g) of this section.

      (f) Not earlier than the assessment date that is the effective date of a revaluation and not later than the tenth calendar day immediately following the date on which the grand list for said assessment date is signed, the assessor shall mail a written notice to the last-known address of the owner of each parcel of real property that was revalued. Such notice shall include the valuation of such parcel as of said assessment date and the valuation of such parcel in the last-preceding assessment year, and shall provide information describing the property owner's rights to appeal the valuation established for said assessment date, including the manner in which an appeal may be filed with the board of assessment appeals.

      (g) The secretary shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, which an assessor shall use when conducting a revaluation. Such regulations shall include (1) provisions governing the management of the revaluation process, including, but not limited to, the method of compiling and maintaining property records, documenting the assessment year during which a full inspection of each parcel of improved real property occurs, and the method of determining real property sales data in support of the mass appraisal process, and (2) provisions establishing criteria for measuring the level and uniformity of assessments generated from a revaluation, provided such criteria shall be applicable to different classes of real property with respect to which a sufficient number of property sales exist. Certification of compliance with not less than one of said regulatory provisions shall be required for each revaluation and the assessor shall, not later than the date on which the grand list reflecting assessments of real property derived from a revaluation is signed, certify to the secretary and the chief executive officer, in writing, that the revaluation was conducted in accordance with said regulatory requirement. Any town effecting a revaluation with respect to which an assessor is unable to certify such compliance shall be subject to the penalty provided in subsection (d) of this section. In the event the assessor designates a revaluation company to perform mass appraisal valuation or field review functions with respect to a revaluation, the assessor and the employee of said company responsible for such function or functions shall jointly sign such certification. The assessor shall retain a copy of such certification and any data in support thereof in the assessor's office. The provisions of subsection (c) of this section concerning the public inspection of criteria, guidelines, price schedules or statement of procedures used in a revaluation shall be applicable to such certification and supporting data.

      (h) This section shall not require the revaluation of real property (1) designated within the 1983 Settlement boundary and taken into trust by the federal government for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation before June 8, 1999, or (2) taken into trust by the federal government for the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of Connecticut.

      (1949 Rev., S. 1737; 1949, 1951, S. 1046d; P.A. 74-253; P.A. 79-28, S. 1, 2; 79-485; P.A. 89-251, S. 190, 203; P.A. 91-296, S. 1, 5; P.A. 92-197, S. 1, 3; 92-221, S. 1, 3; P.A. 93-373; P.A. 95-283, S. 3, 68; P.A. 96-171, S. 5-7, 16; 96-218, S. 1, 5, 6; P.A. 97-68, S. 2, 3; 97-254, S. 1, 6; P.A. 98-242, S. 4, 9; P.A. 99-108, S. 1, 2; 99-189, S. 18, 20; P.A. 00-229, S. 3, 7; P.A. 02-49, S. 1, 2; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 04-2, S. 33; P.A. 06-148, S. 1; P.A. 07-246, S. 8.)

      History: P.A. 74-253 replaced obsolete reference to February 1, 1930, as date for commencement of 10-year revaluations with reference to October 1, 1978, and clarified that first required revaluation after that time be no later than 10 years after last preceding revaluation; P.A. 79-28 replaced "thereafter" with "after each such revaluation" for clarity; P.A. 79-485 added Subsec. (b) requiring that criteria etc. used in revaluation be available for public inspection; P.A. 89-251 added new Subsec. (b) providing that a revaluation of all real estate within 5 years of a revaluation conducted by physical observation, may be conducted by use of a statistical method of adjustment without viewing the real estate, Subsec. (d) providing that any municipality which has not revalued all real estate in the tenth year following the last preceding revaluation, or sooner, shall be required to revalue all real estate not later than October 1, 1991, Subsec. (e) requiring filing of written notice of revaluation with the secretary of the office of policy and management not later than five business days following final action establishing a mill rate for the revalued grand list, and providing that any municipality failing to comply with this section shall forfeit 10% of total state grants-in-aid to such municipality for the fiscal year next following the assessment date on which the required revaluation was not implemented, with an additional provision allowing waiver of such forfeiture by the secretary of the office of policy and management under certain conditions and Subsec. (f) providing that any municipality which has implemented the program of property tax surcharges and credits under Sec. 12-62d shall revalue no later than 5 years following the last preceding revaluation and every 5 years thereafter, allowing revaluation by statistical adjustment in certain cases as provided in Subsec. (b) of this section; P.A. 91-296 provided that the revaluations required by this section would not be required until October 1, 1992, rather than October 1, 1991; P.A. 92-197 provided that the revaluations required by this section would not be required until October 1, 1993, rather than October 1, 1992; P.A. 92-221 added Subsec. (g) regarding designation of revaluation companies and amended Subsec. (c) to conform with its provisions, effective June 1, 1992, and applicable to assessment years of municipalities commencing on or after October 1, 1992; P.A. 93-373 amended Subsec. (b) authorizing municipalities under certain conditions to annually conduct a revaluation by use of a statistical method; P.A. 95-283 amended Subsec. (a) to provide that commencing October 1, 1996, real estate be revalued every 12 years, instead of 10 years, by physical inspection and by statistical method every 4 years following the physical revaluation, deleted portion of Subsec. (b) re 5 year physical revaluation, deleted Subsec. (f) re towns which implemented a program of property tax surcharges and credits, relettered remaining Subsecs., added new Subsec. (g) re notice of revaluation and right to appeal, and made technical changes effective July 6, 1995; P.A. 96-171 amended Subsec. (a) to authorize "designees" of assessors to perform statistical revaluations, amended Subsec. (c) to require criteria, guidelines, price schedules or statement of procedures to continue to be available for public inspection until the next revaluation becomes effective and replace "October 1, 1979" with "October 1, 1996", and amended Subsec. (g) to replace "appeal such revaluation" with "appeal the valuation of his property" and require the notice to include information on the manner in which an appeal may be filed with the board of assessment appeals, effective May 31, 1996; P.A. 96-218 provided a schedule for when towns must begin implementing physical and statistical revaluation cycles, added provision allowing assessor to have fulfilled the physical observation requirement if this was done within 4 years of the next scheduled physical revaluation, deleted Subsec. (d) re 10-year cycle and relettered remaining Subsecs. and made conforming and technical changes, and enacted new provision re agreements by contiguous towns which was added editorially by the Revisor as Subsec. (g), effective June 4, 1996; P.A. 97-68 amended Subsec. (f) by adding provision establishing time for mailing of the notice, effective May 27, 1997, and applicable to assessment years commencing on and after October 1, 1997; P.A. 97-254 deleted existing Subsec. (a)(1) and (2) and inserted new provisions effective October 1, 1997, re revaluing of all real estate in accordance with new schedule in new Subsec. (b), deleted existing Subsec. (b), amended Subsec. (f) to add requirement re when written revaluation notices must be sent out and made technical changes, effective June 27, 1997; P.A. 98-242 added new Subsec. (h) to allow one-time election by a town to revalue earlier than the date required by section, effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 99-108, designated Subsec. (i) by the Revisors, prohibited requiring a municipality to revalue prior to year of next revaluation, effective June 3, 1999, and applicable to assessment years of municipalities commencing on or after October 1, 1997; P.A. 99-189 amended Subsec. (d) to add provisions re postponement of revaluation for extraordinary circumstances and procedure and agreement with the Office of Policy and Management for waiver and made technical changes, effective June 23, 1999, and applicable to assessment years of municipalities commencing on or after October 1, 1999; P.A. 00-229 added Subsec. (j) re revaluation of certain Indian land, effective June 1, 2000, and applicable to assessment years commencing on and after October 1, 1998; P.A. 02-49 amended Subsec. (h)(2) to provide that, starting October 1, 2002, a town performing its revaluation before the time established in Subsec. (b) shall effect its next subsequent revaluation on the assessment date that is 4 years after the applicable date provided in Subsec. (b) instead of performing such revaluation 4 years after its early revaluation date and added Subsec. (k) exempting a municipality from conducting its next scheduled revaluation based on statistical calculations with respect to level of assessment, coefficient of dispersion and price related differential re all properties and properties in specific classes, effective May 9, 2002; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 04-2 amended Subsec. (a) to provide for physical inspection every 10 years and amended Subsec. (b) to delete former schedule for revaluation and to provide for revaluation every 5 years, effective October 1, 2003, and applicable to assessment years commencing on or after that date; P.A. 06-148 entirely replaced existing section with new Subsecs. (a) to (h), inclusive, adding definitions, requiring revaluations every 5 years, providing inspection requirements, requiring certain public documents, requiring notice to the Office of Policy and Management of town revaluation, allowing use of revaluation company, specifying notice provisions, requiring regulations and exempting certain Indian tribe land from revaluation, effective June 6, 2006, and applicable to assessment years commencing on or after October 1, 2006; P.A. 07-246 amended Subsec. (c) to provide that nothing in subsection shall be construed to permit publication or posting on the Internet of a plan or drawing of certain dwelling units.

      Failure of at least two assessors to view property in revaluation in 1928 cannot invalidate a proper valuation in 1930. 115 C. 580. Extra compensation to assessors for making revaluation. 116 C. 10. Revaluation not required to be done of all properties in same year; assistance of service company in arriving at valuations does not invalidate if assessors actually made assessments; to invalidate entire grand list, error in method of valuation must produce substantial injustice to taxpayers as a whole. 122 C. 218. Cited. 146 C. 669, 681. Cited. 149 C. 452. The duty is mandatory and its performance can be compelled by mandamus. 150 C. 439. When question is one of public right and object is to procure enforcement of public duty, the relator need not show he has any legal or special interest in the result. Id. Cited. 169 C. 663. 170 C. 477, 480. Cited. 179 C. 627. Writ of mandamus properly granted under the statutes. Id., 712. Because remedy for changing market values is set forth in this statute the use of average ratio approach is not applicable to discrepancies in valuation arising during ten-year period between valuations. 182 C. 619. Cited. 184 C. 326. Cited. 195 C. 48. Cited. 203 C. 425. Cited. 204 C. 336. Cited. 210 C. 233. Cited. 213 C. 307. Cited. 224 C. 110. Cited. 226 C. 92. Cited. 228 C. 23; Id., 476. Cited. 231 C. 731. Cited. 232 C. 335. Section does not insulate boards of tax review from appeals from over valuation during the years between decennial revaluations. 242 C. 363. Cited. Id., 550. Neither change in a property's use nor decision by a taxpayer to go out of business creates sufficient basis for mandatory interim revaluation of property. 249 C. 63.

      Cited. 3 CA 393. Cited. 21 CA 275. Cited. 38 CA 158. Cited. 41 CA 421; judgment reversed, see 242 C. 530. Cited. 43 CA 169. Town assessor's duties under statute are mandatory, not discretionary, and failure to make and complete another revaluation by statutorily mandated revaluation date constitutes a disregard of statute's mandate. 85 CA 480.

      Assessors under this section not required to reassess but rather to revalue for assessment; viewing and revaluing need not be done in the same year. 3 CS 448. Town meetings have no control over valuations or revaluations. 19 CS 218.

      Subsec. (a):

      Cited. 241 C. 749.