August 16, 2005
Hard Lessons
Gwenne Lally

Connecticut's property owners have been learning some hard lessons lately, and paying a high price for it.

Just ask those featured in Marcia Chambers' Hartford Courant article on recent trends in town assessment and revaluation ["A Shocking Assessment", August 8, 2005]. Their only crime is the location of their modest homes - near or at least with a seasonal view of some water.

To the private companies our towns increasingly rely on to perform reassessments, that technicality can transform a small bungalow into the equivalent of a mansion, doubling or tripling taxes in a single year. And the towns do need the money, because Connecticut's over-reliance on property taxes to fund education unfairly penalizes locations with attractive views, even if the people looking out at them are far from wealthy.

Killingworth may not be burdened by vistas of Long Island Sound, but we are under the same kind of pressure. Most of our homes are dangerously vulnerable to the "C" factor - a multiplier that ratchets up a property's value based on the "condition" of its view. The most obvious is a large expanse of water, but woods, ponds, streams and horse pastures qualify too. And, with the rural ambience of Killingworth attracting so many new residents who pay ever-higher prices to enjoy our unique lifestyle, the problem of the "C" factor is compounded by rising school costs.

Every new home costs Killingworth money by requiring infrastructure and services - but most notably added school expenses. While estimates vary among studies one thing is certain: every new private home is a severe economic drain on a town. According to Jim Gibbons of UCONN and one of our NEMO partners, a typical Killingworth scenario of a family with one school-age student moving into a representative new home will result in a deficit of $1,415 per year. Worse, many of these families do not stay. Once their children have taken advantage of our school system, the parents move on - selling the house to another couple with children. And the drain continues. The problem is certainly not our children, it is the imbalance in the state's unequal and inadequate funding of our towns' educational costs.

According to First Selectman Candidate Marty Klein, the Killingworth Democratic Party is concerned with this issue and prepared to address it. He points out that, while there are no easy answers, some things can be done. Close cooperation with our State Representative, Brian O'Connor, and State Senator, Ed Meyer is essential if we are to seek a more equitable formula for education funding, reduce reliance on property taxes, enhance accountability and distribute the economic burden more fairly. On a local level, whoever wins office this November must pursue a close, collegial, mutually cooperative relationship among Killingworth's Board of Selectmen, Haddam's Board of Selectmen and the District 17 Board of Education. Where there is the will and the commitment, a way can be found.

( For more about the Killingworth Democratic Town Committee visit our website at www.killingworth.dems.info)

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