Citizen Portal
Sign In

West Haven council adopts expanded property-tax exemptions for some disabled veterans and gold-star survivors

West Haven City Council · December 16, 2025

Loading...

AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Under authority of state Public Act 25-168, council approved local options expanding property-tax exemptions (including dwelling-plus-up-to-2-acres and benefits for 100% service-connected and individual unemployability classifications); staff will conduct outreach for an upcoming January 1 filing deadline for some applicants.

The City Council voted to adopt additional property-tax exemptions authorized by Connecticut Public Act 25-168 to expand benefits to certain disabled veterans and surviving spouses of service members killed in action.

Mayor Dorinda Borer and Finance Director Michael Gormeny summarized three options staff recommended for council consideration — adding land (up to two acres) to the existing dwelling exemption, extending benefits for certain 100% service-connected veterans (including those eligible through individual unemployability), and enacting a gold-star exemption for eligible surviving spouses. Gormeny provided estimated fiscal impacts for the options (the dwelling-plus-land option estimated at about $164,000 in tax impact at the time of the memo; an unemployability-related estimate of approximately $35,000 was cited for the other measure) and noted figures are subject to change as applications are submitted.

Deputy Assessor Christy Gargiulo explained application mechanics and the state's January 1 filing deadline for certain applicants; she said roughly 30 individuals may require outreach to ensure applications are filed. Council members asked whether the deadline could be extended and discussed outreach plans; staff said many current 100% service-connected veterans were already on file and the office had been contacting people, and the Veterans Council and local veterans groups would assist with outreach.

The council voted in favor of adopting the local options under Public Act 25-168; the motion passed on a roll-call vote with recorded 'Yes' votes from attending members.