East Windsor's 2010 Grand List Grew by Less Than One Percent

The total value of property in East Windsor grew last year by 0.3994 percent, according to the 2010 Grand List released this week.

If town officials were to keep the tax rate at 2009’s 23.9964 mills, revenue would increase by $103,323.34. The Board of Finance sets the mill rate after the budget is approved in May or June.

The Grand List is made up of all of the real estate, business personal property and motor vehicles in the town. The total value of that property is $1,082,304.867.

Real estate saw an increase of 0.22 percent, personal property decreased by 0.617 percent and motor vehicles increased by 3.364 percent.

First Selectwoman Denise E. Menard said she is pleased that the Grand List showed some growth.

“When I was talking to the boards of finance and selectmen, I said although it’s a small increase it’s still an increase,” Menard said.

Nevertheless, East Windsor, like most local governments, is facing hard decisions as officials start to put together the 2011-12 budget in the same tough climate as the past few years. Menard said the writing is on the wall about towns seeing reduced revenue from the state.

“(Gov. Malloy) said very frankly that everybody is going to share the pain,” Menard said. “I’m just waiting to see what the pain is.”

Town Assessor Caroline G. Madore said personal property owners were more diligent in filing on time (to avoid a 25 percent penalty) with proper documentation and accurate numbers.

Madore said she worked closely with a good number of business owners to get correct and accurate filings through acquisitions of fixed asset listings and audits.

"The process is challenging, but worthwhile for the business owners in our town to recognize that we are not the cause of their financial hardship and that we are here to help if need arises," Madore said.     

The motor vehicle assessment level did grow even though East Windsor had only 81 more vehicles than last year, Madore said. However, the older vehicles are not depreciating as quickly as in prior years and some of the larger commercial vehicles are now off the five-year exemption program, all of that assisted in getting the town’s numbers up by 3.3646 percent, she added.