BRISTOL — The city will likely save at least $200,000 on the revaluation effort scheduled for next year because its assessor is taking on much of the work instead of hiring an outside firm to peg the value of all the property inthe city.
“I like the fact that I’m going to own the revaluation,” city Assessor Tom DeNoto said.
DeNoto said that instead of costing between $500,000 and $600,000, his plan will cost $300,000 and allow him to know exactly how every value came to be assessed.
Finance Chairman Rich Miecznikowski said he’s pleased that DeNoto is “taking the bull by the horn” to save money for taxpayers.
“That’s quite a savings,” Miecznikowski said.
The city held its last revaluation in 2007, when the housing market was at its hottest and months before it burst. The tax burden generally shifted a bit onto the shoulders of homeowners at that time.
The city is required by state law to conduct another revaluation in 2012, but there is a move in the legislature to let municipalities put off for a year or two any scheduled revaluations as a money-saving measure.
“We should be able to hit the brakes,” DeNoto said, and restart the process later.
DeNoto said he plans to hire the firm Information Applications & Solutions to go through the 2007 data and adjust the tables and inspection information to reflect more recent sales and permits. It’s a sort of hybrid procedure in which a technical contractor and the city work together on the numbers.
That’s how towns such as Bloomfield and West Hartford set their assessments, DeNoto said.
Hiring IAS is where most of the cost of the 2012 revaluation comes in, he said, but it’s still much cheaper than having an outside contractor do all of the work.
DeNoto said that in the end, he will be the one who can say why someone’s house has been assessed for a particular value or how ESPN’s assessment was derived.
“The buck will stop here,” DeNoto said. “I like being the hands-on person.”