Greenwich Still Has Very Low Property Taxes
Greenwich has many very desirable features about it that include our schools (both public and private), our parks and playgrounds, beaches, marinas, shops and restaurants, sports facilities, activities, events, and wonderful performances around town for young and old, but what really brings people to live here is our low property taxes.
Property taxes for each town in Connecticut are calculated using the projected budget of the operating and capital expenditures planned for the upcoming fiscal year. The mill rate to be used each year spreads the expenditures over the property values, making up the Grand List, which includes the assessed values of all the residential and commercial properties in town. Boats, cars, and vehicles are included and based on the registrations with the Motor Vehicles Department. Unchanged properties that have not been upgraded or replaced get reassessed every five years based on the sales of surrounding properties in each neighborhood.
New construction or renovated properties get reassessed after the construction is completed. Greenwich is most unusual in that so many residential and commercial properties get torn down and replaced by something that has a value of 2 to 3 times the value of what was there before! With enough of those major changes made to each renovated property, it can change the value of that neighborhood entirely, even if not every property has been upgraded yet. It is not just rising at the rate of inflation. Millions of dollars are brought in to upgrade those properties, and it is changing throughout the town.
If you own property in town, last fall you should have received your new Preliminary Assessed Value of your property that will make up the Greenwich Grand List. Most have gone up from our 2021 Revaluation, our last major Town revaluation. Note that assessments are based on 70% of what the assessors think is the fair market value of that property. So if the Assessors think that the fair market value of your property is worth $2,500,000, your assessment as of October 2025 would be $1,750,000. Because we have such valuable properties, our current mill rate of 12.041 is among the lowest in the state. Hartford has the highest, with a mill rate of 68.95.
