If you’re a homeowner in several Connecticut towns, your property taxes are expected to rise. In Canton, some residents have told Inside Investigator that their tax assessments increased by as much as 74%. If your new tax bill seems higher than you expected, you have a chance to bring it down through an appeal process.

Sharp increases in property taxes result from a corresponding increase in property values. Connecticut has been hit hard by a rising housing market. In some other states, those home prices have started to come back to Earth. Connecticut, however, hasn’t seen the same decreases, due in large part to a greater scarcity of available property. With fewer homes on the market, prices for those that are go up.

According to the Connecticut Office of Fiscal Analysis, Connecticut’s home prices saw a spike starting in 2020. Prices had been generally stable until the pandemic, and the state’s housing price index rose by about a third by 2022 and has continued rising throughout 2023.

Property taxes are assessed based on your home’s value, not the price you paid. To calculate your payment, your city or town looks at recent sales to determine how much your house is worth and assign it a value. They then take 70% of that estimated value and multiply it by the city or town’s set mill rate to get your total property tax bill. If your house is now worth a third more than it was during the last assessment, if the mill rate has increased, or both, your taxes are going to go up.

In 2023, the following cities and towns are scheduled to reassess their tax rates: 

Windsor Locks was also on the schedule but opted to push back its reassessment.

If your new tax bill seems too high, you can appeal your new rate and hope for a reduction, but you will need to do so relatively quickly. The final day to submit an appeal is February 20, 2024 and the application may not be available until February first.

“The appeal process usually begins with an informal hearing/discussion period where a property owner/taxpayer can informally discuss the new/proposed assessment with the assessor and/or revaluation contractor prior to assessed value being finalized,” says Michael Correia, Senior Manager, Property Tax Commercial at Ryan, a company that specialized in tax services. “The second step would be an appeal by abatement application to the local [Board of Assessment Appeals where a property-owner/taxpayer will have an opportunity to present information as to why they feel their assessed value should be lower.”

Cases involving properties valued at more than $1 million could be kicked up to the Superior Court by the Board of Assessment Appeals (BAA).

Formal hearings are held during either March or April (depending on whether your town has extended the deadline to file an appeal).

There is, of course, no guarantee that an appeal will go in your favor. In 2021, Canton saw three appeals to the Board. None of them resulted in any change to the assessment rate.

Correia says the chances you could win your appeal are “unlikely without help from a professional, such as an appraiser or, in the case of a residential property, a local real estate agent/broker than can articulate why an assessment is too high. ‘My taxes are too high’ is not a reason for a reduction, the focus should be on the Fair Market Value of the property.”

If you do receive an unfavorable decision from the Board, any appeals have to be filed in Superior Court.

You can get an application for appeal from your local Tax Assessor.

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