Town’s grand list grows slightly

Real estate and personal property fall

By Peter Marteka

Editor

Submitted Photo

Assessor Brian Penney

The town’s $5.4 billion grand list increased slightly by .24 percent or $13 million. The town’s real estate dropped .15 percent or $7.1 million from $4.77 billion to $4.76 billion. The town’s personal property dropped three percent or $6.5 million from $222.3 million to $215.8 million. The town’s motor vehicles increase 6.32 percent or $26.8 million from $424.8 million to $451.6 million.

Assessor Brian Penney said there were three main reasons for the decline in real estate.

“Fewer new homes were built this past year, several tax appeal cases were adjudicated in court, and a tax exemption program for disabled veterans increased dramatically,” he said.

The town’s residential real estate market remained strong with continued low inventory, and rising prices. Interest rates have also eased a bit from the prior year, Penney noted. The number of residential sales in town decreased from 429 to 402 from the previous grand list year. The average sale price increased 12 percent from $563,250 to $631,750 and on average closing price remained above asking price at 106 percent.

“These statistics track with comparable towns and are attributed to continued limited supply and high demand,” he said.

The report noted that new home construction slowed with 19 new homes built last year, down from 26 new homes the prior year.

“This trend has persisted for several years as inventory of builder-ready lots decreases. Building permits issued for residential additions and alterations remain strong as residents continue to invest in their homes,” Penney noted.

Penney said the commercial market was steady with signs of growth in the coming years.

“There are numerous apartment and mixed-use projects in various stages of development,” he noted.

These include 266 units at Main and Griswold streets, a 170-unit mixed-use project near Main and Hebron across from the Fountain Green, 157 units at 115 Addison Rd., 250 units at 50 Feldspar Ridge, and 31 units at the old tobacco factory at 38 Hubbard St. among others.

“In addition, current building permit activity shows renovations and improvements being made to the existing stock of commercial properties and occupancy rates remain relatively high,” Penney noted.

The personal property grand list decreased this year due primarily to the disposal of $10 million in assets by one large account, Penney noted.

“More broadly, the business environment remains healthy with 122 new businesses added this year and existing businesses reinvesting in our community,” he noted.

The motor vehicle list increase was in line with local and national trends.

“Passenger vehicle sales in 2025 reached a level not seen since 2019 and the average new vehicle price topped $50,000 for the first time ever,” he noted.

Car taxes are no longer based on the book value of a vehicle. Last year municipalities throughout the state switched to assessing motor vehicles based on manufacturer suggested retail price. A standardized depreciation schedule is applied to the MSRP, based solely on the age of the vehicle, and the depreciated value is multiplied by the statewide assessment ratio of 70 percent to arrive at a taxable assessment, Penney noted.

“Legislatively, we enacted additional tax relief for farmers and totally disabled veterans in 2025. The town adopted a local-option ordinance to increase the exemption of farm machinery and outbuildings from $100,000 to $500,000 each. This helped around 50 farmers,” he noted.

Penney noted that 2025 brought new legislation for totally disabled veterans as well. Last year, Public Act 24-46 created a new exemption for veterans who have a service-connected permanent and total disability rating of 100 percent. It allowed full exemption of the dwelling or motor vehicle owned by the veteran. This year Public Act 25-168 enabled municipalities, by local option, to enact several modifications. Glastonbury chose to adopt all available options, Penney noted including:

1. Exempt up to two acres of land in addition to the dwelling.

2. Include surviving spouses whose spouse passed away prior to Oct. 1, 2024.

3. Limit the total exemption to the median assessment of residential property ($290,000)

4. Include veterans with service-connected total disability based on individual unemployability.

5. Include Gold Star Spouses in all the above.

In 2024, 52 disabled vets qualified, and the fiscal impact was -$9.7 million in assessed value. For 2025, 66 disabled vets qualified, totaling -$16.6 million in assessed value, Penney noted.

Top 10 Taxpayers

1.        Connecticut Light and Power Co. $71.6 million

2.        JSIP Tannery LLC (Apartments) $45.7 million

3.        Glastonbury Developers LLC (Glastonbury Place) $24.5 million

4.        Connecticut Natural Gas Corp $20.3 million

5.        Somerset Square $18.9 million

6.        SCT Glastonbury LLC (office buildings) $18.4

7.        Glastonbury MZL LLC (Stop & Shop/Barnes & Noble) $17.5 million

8.        SHP V Glastonbury LLC (assisted living center) $16.5 million

9.        Siebar Glastonbury LLC (office buildings) $15.8 million

10.  Brixmor Residual Shoppes at Fox Run LLC $15.8 million