Turnout at Assessment Protest Low, But Increases High

Ten Pine Creek Area Residents Protest Skyrocketing Property Assessments and Taxes

The turnout at Tuesday morning's protest of new property assessments and upcoming tax bills wasn't high, but the increases in assessments and taxes mentioned by protesters sure were.

Christine Anderson, who lives on the water side of Pine Creek Avenue, said her property assessment rose 55 percent after the recent townwide revaluation and her taxes in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, will nearly double. She said her current tax bill is $12,600 and her tax bill in 2011-12 will be $23,000. "In one year. No change to the property or the house," she said, adding that her nearly 1,600-square-foot house was built in 1906 and is on a 25-foot-wide lot.
Tax records show the assessment on Anderson's two-story house, built in 1906 and on .08 acre at 84 Pine Creek Ave., rose from $656,180 to $1.024 million, an increase of 56 percent. Her house has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a total of six rooms and a living area of 1,536 square feet, according to tax records.
The annual tax bill on Anderson's property is now $12,645 and is due to rise July 1 to $23,005, according to her old and new assessments and the current tax rate of 19.27 mills and a tax rate of 22.47 mills in the 2011-12 fiscal year.
Joan Fortuna, who also lives on Pine Creek Avenue, said she would end up paying from $8,000 to $10,000 more in taxes in the next fiscal year and that her property assessment went up at least $350,000. "The appraisal we had done was $500,000 less than the town's appraisal," she said.
Fortuna said her house was once owned by her grandmother but she didn't think she would be able to stay in it. "I'm a widow. I have a fixed income. I'm probably not going to be able to stay there," she said.
According to tax records, Fortuna owns two properties on Pine Creek Avenue - a two-story house on 0.16 acre at 38 Pine Creek Ave. and .07 acre of vacant land at 31 Pine Creek Ave. Fortuna's house is identified on tax records as having four bedrooms, two and-a-half bathrooms, a total of eight rooms and a living area of 2,754 square feet. It was built in 1914, according to tax records.
The combined assessments of the two properties rose from $1.2 million to $1.56 million, according to tax records.
The total annual tax bill on Fortuna's properties is now $23,131 and is due to rise to $35,161, according to the old and new assessments and old and new tax rates.
Joyce Pierz, who lives on the water side of Pine Creek Avenue, said 10 houses on Pine Creek Avenue are on the market and she knows of at least two more that are going on the market. She said her property assessment increased by 50 percent, while her tax bill in the next fiscal year will rise from $18,325 to $27,000. "I love my home, but this is crazy," she said.
According to tax records, Pierz' property assessment rose from $946,330 to $1.23 million. Her two-story house at 282 Pine Creek Ave. was built in 1967 and is on 0.2 acre. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a total of five rooms and a living area of 1,632 square feet, according to tax records.
Pierz' annual tax bill is scheduled to rise from $18,236 to $27,617, according to her old and new property assessments and old and new tax rates.
Laura Incerto, of Pine Creek Avenue, said Tuesday's protest was designed to raise awareness in town of higher property assessments, the town budget and the rise in tax bills in 2011-12. Residents haven't received their tax bills yet because the town has to wait to see if Tuesday's referendum is successful. If it is successful and $800,000 is restored to the Board of Education's 2011-12 budget, the tax rate will have to be increased by the town's Board of Finance.
"It's awareness," Incerto said. "It's all about awareness. There's so much anxiety and passion from a lot of people we're speaking with about how poorly the town has budgeted, how out of sync they are with expenses. We want to let the other citizens of this town be aware they should be asking the same questions we are."
"I think it should be a better system of looking at spending," Incerto added. "You can't keep seniors here any longer or children. Something's got to be done with better budgeting and reeled-in spending. There's something wrong in this town if taxes keep going up and up and up."
Don Lamberty of French Street, president of the Pine Creek Association, said Tuesday's protest also was to let people know it's not too late to challenge their new property assessments in Bridgeport Superior Court. But Lamberty said they already would have had to bring an appeal to the town's Board of Assessment Appeals and been denied. He said the protest also was meant to highlight what he termed the unfairness of the new property assessments."The assessments are not fair. They're not based on what the true market value is. People's lives are being damaged," Lamberty said.
A previous review by Fairfield Patch of home sales on Pine Creek Avenue since the prior assessment in 2005 showed a sale in April 2006 for $1.3 million; a sale in September 2006 for $859,900; and a sale in December 2007 for $975,000.
But the review also showed the sale of a house next to Incerto's, in October 2010, for $550,000. Incerto's new property assessment, which is 70 percent of what the town believes the house's market value is, totals $488,000, and Incerto's house is remarkably similar to the one that sold for $550,000 in October.
After Pine Creek residents protested their new assessments at May's Representative Town Meeting, Town Assessor Thomas F. Browne, Jr. said he believed a lot of their concern was tied to the 16.6 percent rise in the tax rate - from 19.27 mills this fiscal year to 22.47 mills in the 2011-12 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Browne said several months ago that houses near the water tended to maintain or increase in value in the latest townwide revaluation.
Incerto said Tuesday that she plans to challenge her new assessment in Bridgeport Superior Court. But Incerto said she would represent herself in court. "I can't afford an attorney to fight this town," she said. READ MORE: http://fairfield.patch.com/articles/turnout-at-assessment-protest-low-but-increases-high

Owner of Most Expensive Home in Fairfield Suing Over New Property Assessment

Also, Pine Creek Residents Plan Protest Tuesday Outside Old Town Hall
Karin S. Jack, who owns the most expensive home in Fairfield with her husband, Bradley Jack, is suing the town over their new property assessment. The Jacks' house at 1144 Sasco Hill Road, which stands on 20 waterfront acres, was assessed in the recent townwide revaluation at $24.2 million, an increase of $1 million over the prior assessment of $23.2 million. The new assessment gives the Jacks' house a market value of $34.6 million. Due to the lower assessments on many houses in Fairfield - and the resulting dramatic increase in the town's tax rate for the next fiscal year - the Jacks' tax bill in 2011-12 will total $543,847, an increase of $96,782 over their current tax bill of $447,065. Karin Jack contends in a lawsuit filed in Bridgeport Superior Court that the $24.2 million assessment is "grossly excessive, disproportionate, and unlawful."
Jack in the lawsuit said she appealed the new assessment to the town's Board of Assessment Appeals, but the board denied her appeal and made no change to the assessment.
Jack, represented by attorney Matthew R. Paul of Fairfield's Southport neighborhood and Kurt W. Hansson of New York, are asking a judge to reduce the valuation and assessment on her and her husband's house and have the town reimburse any overpayment of taxes.
Meanwhile, homeowners in the town's Pine Creek neighborhood have planned a protest outside Old Town Hall at 11 a.m. Tuesday due to their new property assessments. Tuesday's protest comes on the heels of a protest May 23 at the Representative Town Meeting. READ MORE: http://fairfield.patch.com/articles/owner-of-most-expensive-home-in-fairfield-suing-over-new-property-assessment