Norwich ― All city property owners received letters just before Christmas, but they did not contain messages of holiday cheer.

The letters from the city assessor’s office informed property owners of their new appraised and assessed values in a state-mandated statistical revaluation of all 13,000 properties in the city.

Residential homeowners especially got a jolt, as home values shot up about 60% overall, said city Assessor Bill Lee. Homeowners have been calling or coming to his office in fear that their property taxes will skyrocket based on the new assessments.

Not so, Lee and other city officials said. The revaluation will cause the city’s grand list of taxable property to rise considerably, meaning the tax rate should drop significantly when the City Council passes a new budget in June.

The appraised value is the full market value of a home, while the assessed value is 70% of that total. Property taxes are calculated on the assessed value of a property. Each letter sent to a property owner lists the old assessed value, the new assessed value and the new appraised value of the home.

“Do not apply the current tax (mill) rate to your new assessment,” the letter states in bold. “Doing so will result in an inaccurate calculation of future taxes. The new mill rate will be determined as part of the budget process in the spring of 2024.”

Lee said his staff has been fielding a steady stream of questions and concerns about the revaluation, especially as it came as a surprise, with no in-person inspections by Vision Government Solutions, which conducted the appraisals.

City Manager John Salomone gave credit to the assessor’s office staff for their efforts to explain the revaluation and appeal process to property owners.

“Everybody who has a house knows that it’s reflective of the market,” Salomone said. “A lot of people don’t realize the mill rate will go down. You can’t base your (new) taxes on the current mill rate.”

Norwich conducts in-person inspections of properties, including interiors of homes, called a full measure revaluation, every 10 years. The last full measure appraisal was done in 2018. At the five-year mark in between, including 2023, the city conducts statistical appraisals, using market values and city property tax records on file to calculate the new value of properties.

The COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic housing boom is reflected in the new numbers, Lee said, with houses, condominiums and mobile homes often selling for amounts above the asking prices. Commercial rental apartment buildings, defined as buildings with five or more units, also soared in value, reflecting a rental housing shortage.

Lee said he tracks Connecticut housing market trends and does not expect values to drop anytime soon. Higher mortgage loan interest rates have not slowed property sales, he said. The Federal Reserve had raised interest rates 11 times in recent years, including four times in 2023 before holding rates steady this fall, according to a news story posted Nov. 1 on CNBC.com.

Commercial property values, other than commercial apartment buildings, remained steady, Lee said, and industrial values rose slightly.

Norwich property owners will have two chances to seek revisions to their new assessments. Property owners must contact Vision either online at www.vgsi.com/schedules or by calling (888) 844-4300 no later than Jan. 5 to request a review of their new assessments. Appeals to the city Board of Assessment Appeals must be requested no later than March 20 for hearings to be held in April.

Along with explaining the assessment process, staff in the assessor’s office have been informing property owners of potential tax breaks available to some veterans and to people with disabilities and residents 65 and over on limited incomes.

The veterans’ exemption is a flat $1,500 reduction in the assessed values of their homes, while the senior citizen discount is a sliding scale reduction in tax bills. Contact the assessor’s office at (860) 823-3723 for information.

c.besette@theday.com