North Stonington to consider making horses tax exempt
North Stonington — The town that prides itself on its rural farming community charm soon will have the opportunity to strengthen that position.
During a meeting early this week, members of the Board of Selectmen unanimously expressed their support for moving forward a measure that would make horses that are housed in town tax exempt. This means residents will more than likely have the ability to vote on giving horses tax exempt status at a town meeting that is anticipated for late next month.
"We think the benefit of exempting horses is more beneficial than the small amount of revenue we would receive from those people who claim the horses," First Selectman Mike Urgo said, adding that taxing horses currently generates less than $2,000 in revenue.
"We want to capitalize on our rural community here ... It makes us a little more friendly to farms," he added.
Currently horses that are housed in North Stonington are assessed as personal property, although there is an exemption of up to $1,000 if the owner files a personal property declaration. Also, horses used in a farming operation can be totally exempt, provided they meet certain criteria.
However, back in 2014 the Connecticut General Assembly passed an act allowing towns the option to totally exempt horses from property taxes regardless of their use. But the town still needs to pass its own legislation for that to apply.
Unfortunately, passage of the state legislation led many people to mistakenly believe that horses are tax exempt in North Stonington, and when they failed to file their personal property declaration for the horse, a 25 percent penalty was added per current law, according to a letter that Darryl Del Grosso, the town assessor, sent to Urgo.
In the letter, Grosso added that with other towns across the state enacting legislation, more stable owners were feeling like they were at a disadvantage in the market, and he urged the town to consider exempting horses.
The only local town that has adopted the option to make horses exempt is Stonington. Meanwhile, the towns of Preston, Griswold, Voluntown, Ledyard and Groton all tax horses, according to Grosso.
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