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.