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Assessors oppose carve-outs for retail valuation and expanded attorney-fee awards, cite mass-appraisal standards
Summary
The Connecticut Assessors Association told the Planning and Development Committee it opposes HB 7,001 (special valuation rules for retail sales facilities) and HB 6,997 (expanded mandatory attorney-fee recovery), arguing such changes would raise municipal revaluation costs and are unnecessary because existing statutes and procedures already provide remedies.
John Chiponis, legislative chair for the Connecticut Assessors Association, testified in opposition to HB 7,001, which would require different valuation treatment for retail sales facilities, and to HB 6,997, which would broaden attorney-fee recovery for taxpayers who prevail in wrongful-assessment claims.
Chiponis said municipal revaluations rely on mass-appraisal methods that are nationally accepted, less costly and designed to produce uniform taxation across similar properties. He said requiring narrative fee appraisals for retail parcels would be costly—potentially doubling revaluation costs—and problematic in small towns with few comparable retail sales or no recent sales data.
On HB 6,997, Chiponis said Conn. Gen. Stat. §12-119a already allows costs and attorney fees in some cases and that expanding mandatory awards could create a chilling effect on municipal enforcement. He pointed to the prevalence of third-party appeals and contingency-fee firms that target revaluations and said adding mandatory fee awards would increase pressure on municipal budgets.
In committee questioning, assessors described how mass appraisal works, the role of income-and-expense reporting, and the standards used to test revaluation models. They also described the informal-review, Board of Assessment Appeals and court appeal process available to taxpayers.
