Grand List Shows Very Small Drop

Property tax is the source of a large portion of the city's revenue. The total amount of property tax collected is a product of the tax (mill) rate and the aggregate value of all taxable property in the city. If there is a drop in the value of taxable property, then the tax rate on the remaining property must rise to maintain city revenue.

This year's Grand List has a total value of $3.74 billion. This is down by $11.3M from last year, a drop of about one third of one percent.
Many had feared a much bigger drop, as this is the first assessment since the demolition of the Aetna Headquarters building.  Damon Braasch, city tax assessor, said, "If it wasn't for the loss of [the Aetna] building, we would have had a $60M increase."

There was significant growth in the aggregate assessment of property other than real estate, including motor vehicles. Braasch said, “We had very good growth in personal property due in large part to a new substation at Kleen Energy that is owned by Connecticut Light & Power, as well as increases at Pratt & Whitney and Aetna’s Data Center.”

The biggest loser in the Grand List is the Westfield Fire District, which had a total reduction of nearly 5%.

The top 10 taxpayers were responsible for about 16% of the total grand list, they are listed in the table below. Aetna retains a large presence in the city because of its Data Processing Center.

1) Aetna Life (Including lessor’s)	Insurance	197,964,550
2) United Technologies	Manufacturing	147,680,500
3) Connecticut Light & Power	Utility	71,608,540
4) Middletown Power LLC	Utility	45,949,710
5) Kleen Energy Systems LLC	Utility	44,997,740
6) Northwood Apt Assoc LLC	Apartments	23,616,520
7) Chestnut Hill Apt Assoc LLC	Apartments	21,769,240
8) Fairfield Midtown Brook LP	Apartments	21,514,130
9) Fairfield Midtown Ridge LP	Apartments	21,365,165
10) New Boston Windshire	Apartments	17,959,480