Grand list and top 10 taxpayers

KENT — The assessor’s office has released the 2012 grand list. The town of Kent presents the gross numbers for 2012, but shows net numbers for 2011. Gross numbers are before residents’ appeals of assessments. Net numbers reflect totals after the assessor makes adjustments to assessments based on the appeals. Therefore, while the 2012 gross numbers and 2011 net numbers are generally close, they present a less than perfect comparison. The total value of real estate in Kent was $633,570,760,an increase of 1.1 percent from 2011. Personal property dropped 5.4 percent to $13,088,485. Motor vehicles dropped 0.003 percent to $25,199,900.Overall, total property values remained about even with a 0.01 percent increase.One hundred ninety-eight tax-exempt real estate properties have an assessed value of $136,052,500, but are not included in the above numbers. This exempt amount is equal to 21.5 percent of the taxable real estate list. Kent has 1,980 taxable real estate tax accounts, 336 personal property tax accounts and 3,160 motor vehicle tax accounts. Personal property includes business fixtures, machinery and equipment plus horses, unregistered motor vehicles and snowmobiles.The top 10 taxpayers are:1. Rock Cobble Farm LLC, $7,193,4002. Iron Mountain Property, $5,025,100 3. JLAA LLC, $5,015,100 4. David S. Blitzer (trustee), $4,606,300 5. Rock Hill Associates LLC, $4,273,700 6. Kent Realty LLC, $4,001,000 7. Jeffrey and Erica Keswin, $3,914,200 8. Rachel Fish LLC, $3,870,800 9. Robert Lenz Trustee, $3,785,800 10. Willow Brook Farm LLC, $3,532,000 The new mill rate will take effect on July 1, 2013. What is a mill?The mill rate determines property taxes in Connecticut towns. A mill represents $1 in tax for every $1,000 of assessed property value. A 15-mill tax rate would translate into a tax bill of $1,500 for the owner of a home assessed at $100,000. The grand list is the total assessed value of all taxable property in a town. Properties are assessed at 70 percent of their total value.

Latest News

McCarron wins silver at state meet

Indoor track BL champs

Provided

Housatonic Valley Regional High School senior Kyle McCarron’s 1600-meter time of 4:30.31 earned him second place in this year’s indoor state meet. He was within two seconds of first-place finisher Matthew Kraszewski from Nathan Hale-Ray High School.

McCarron was one of eight runners to represent HVRHS in the 2025 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class S indoor track meet at Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven Feb. 15. In addition to his 1600-meter silver medal, McCarron placed sixth in the 3200-meter run.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy Brown’s retrospective celebrates 50 years of women at Hotchkiss

Joy Brown installing work for her show at the Tremaine Art Gallery at Hotchkiss.

Natalia Zukerman

This year, The Hotchkiss School is marking 50 years of co-education with a series of special events, including an exhibition by renowned sculptor Joy Brown. “The Art of Joy Brown,” opening Saturday, Feb. 22, in the Tremaine Art Gallery, offers a rare retrospective of Brown’s work, spanning five decades from her early pottery to her large-scale bronze sculptures.

“It’s an honor to show my work in celebration of fifty years of women at Hotchkiss,” Brown shared. “This exhibition traces my journey—from my roots in pottery to the figures and murals that have evolved over time.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Special screening of ‘The Brutalist’ at the Triplex Cinema
Yale professor Elihu Rubin led discussions before and after “The Brutalist” screening at Triplex Cinema on Feb. 2. He highlighted how the film brings architecture into focus, inviting the audience to explore Brutalism as both a style and a theme.
L. Tomaino

A special screening of “The Brutalist” was held on Feb. 2 at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington. Elihu Rubin, a Henry Hart Rice Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies at Yale, led discussions both before and after the film.

“The Brutalist” stars Adrien Brody as fictional character, architect Laszlo Toth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect. Toth trained at the Bauhaus and was interred at the concentration camp Buchenwald during World War II. The film tells of his struggle as an immigrant to gain back his standing and respect as an architect. Brody was winner of the Best Actor Golden Globe, while Bradley Corbet, director of the film, won best director and the film took home the Golden Globe for Best Film Drama. They have been nominated again for Academy Awards.

Keep ReadingShow less