Conflicting data confuses area homeowners

By Stephen P. Clark
Staff Writer

Published February 3 2008


STAMFORD - As home prices drop throughout the country because of the subprime crisis, the housing market in Fairfield County has remained relatively strong, said Director of Assessment and Collection William Forker.

At the first public meeting on the 2007 property revaluation last week, held at the Long Ridge Firehouse, a homeowner asked Forker how the lessening of neighborhood values affects assessments. The homeowner said the assessed market value of his property went up 10 percent.

"It sounds a little bit out of line," the homeowner said.

"There are people who are convinced that properties in Stamford have dropped 25 percent," Forker told the nearly 60 homeowners in attendance. "I can tell you it has not. There's a slowing down in the increase of value. But overall in Stamford and in Fairfield County, that drop or decrease has not materialized."

In an interview, Pascale Millien-Faustin, a Realtor with ERA Shays Real Estate, disagreed with Forker's assessment of the housing market.

"I don't think it's accurate," she said. "A lot of people are losing their homes and are afraid of buying."

Millien-Faustin characterized the housing market as "unstable."

The North Stamford Association, a homeowners' group, hosted the meeting last week. During the one-hour meeting, Forker talked about what he called "dramatic growth" in the Grand List since 1999, when the last revaluation was done before 2006.

Residential property increased by 116 percent, he said, and commercial property by 160 percent. The Grand List is the total value of all taxable property in the city, including real estate, automobiles and business equipment.

Forker noted that the taxable real estate portion of the Grand List has grown from $9.6 billion in 1999 to $22 billion this year.

"What does it all mean? How will taxes be affected?" he asked. "That I don't know. Taxes are budget-driven."

This year's property revaluation has shifted more of the tax burden to commercial property owners. According to data from the Office of Assessment and Collection, residential properties accounts for 63 percent of the real estate portion of the Grand List, down from 71 percent last year. Commercial properties rose to 37 percent from 29 percent last year.

Last year's revaluation, which shifted more of the tax burden to homeowners, was phased in to soften the impact. At the meeting, Forker pointed out that if this year's revaluation is phased in, the change in how the tax burden is apportioned will not be fully realized.

Some homeowners asked questions that Forker said he couldn't answer. For example, homeowners wanted to know what the change in assessed value was for North Stamford.

"I can't answer that specifically," Forker said.

Others wanted to know whether Forker changed his methodology. Forker assured homeowners that he didn't.

"This is a mass appraisal for tax purposes," he said. Each property is assessed by sales value, income approach or cost approach, Forker said. "All three must be considered."

A few homeowners asked why the increase in their property values didn't match those of their neighbors. Forker said he would have to view the specific properties to answer the question.

Forker told a story about a Shippan homeowner who did not think her waterfront property was worth as much as her assessment. She had her assessment reduced by the Board of Assessment Appeals to $1.1 million from $1.4 million, he said. And a few months later, she sold it for $1.6 million.

Informal hearings for property owners who disagree with their assessments began last week. In the first week, there were 422 hearings, most of them commercial properties, Forker said. He said that number of hearings in one week wasn't unusual.

Members of the North Stamford Association were pleased with Forker's presentation, said Thomas Lombardo, president of the homeowners' group. Forker said he doesn't have another public meeting scheduled because no other group has requested one.