Town real estate value up over $4 million

NORTH CANAAN — A $5 million increase to the 2006 grand list may sound impressive, but it amounts to only 2 percent of the more than $250 million total value of taxable property. That includes real estate, motor vehicles and personal property, the latter actually a tax imposed on business equipment.

The result is little or no impact on tax bills, according to Assessor Tony Barber, who noted the small increase is driven by a lack of development over the past year.

"It seems like there was more, because of big projects like Stop & Shop, but there were only seven or eight new houses built," Barber said.

Real estate total values rose just under $4.3 million. Personal property increased by $1.3 million and motor vehicles by $581,820.

The notably small rise in motor vehicle assessments is likely a fluke. Barber said North Canaan residents bought far fewer new cars. The reason seems to be no more than cyclical. The total increase tends to fluctuate dramatically from year to year in just about any small town.

Things will get interesting in the assessor’s office in the coming months as a partial revaluation gets underway. The contractor that performed reval five years ago (Appraisal Resources) has been contracted to review assessments for the next grand list.

Planned commercial and residential development will impact that list, but it’s hard to say where it will go from there. Revaluation is based on market trends. North Canaan has seen an almost shocking rise in home prices, but the market has softened as buyers avoided inflated prices.

"The market is down and the buyer is the boss right now," Berber said. "It is too soon to say how the market changes will affect reval."