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Showing posts from April, 2019

East Windsor cuts homeowner assessments 15%. Enfield is next in line for the question.

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A new state law allows towns to cut assessments for owner-occupied homes from 5% to 35%. East Windsor just approved a 15% reduction.  A decrease in homeowner assessments may cut tax burdens on owner-occupied properties but raise them on commercial properties. East Windsor is the second town to approve this assessment reduction, now allowed under state law. Photo: Former Macy's building.  East Windsor is lowering assessed value on owner-occupied homes by 15%. It is the second town in the state to take advantage of a new state law that allows local communities to lower assessments anywhere from 5% to 35% on an owner-occupied primary residence — single and two-family homes, as well as condos. New Milford went first, and set a 10% assessment reduction. If East Windsor's 15% reduction were adopted by Enfield, it might work like this: A home with a market value of $300,000 has an assessed value of $210,000. A 15% reduction would lower the assessment on this home to $178,500. The tax...

Climate change impacts in Connecticut

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I can imagine mowing my lawn by next weekend, which seems early. Already the weeds are racing ahead. This is not surprising. Temperatures in Connecticut have increased 2.8 degrees since 1970 . Our average annual temp that year was about 48, it's now nearing 51. This coincides with a  dramatic rise in CO2. In 1970, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was at 325 ppm; it's now at about 410 ppm. Pre-industrial was 280 ppm.  Connecticut is ranked 10th among fastest warming states by Climate Central. Alaska is first. I'm not entirely sure why Connecticut, along with Rhode Island and Vermont, are seeing faster temperature rises. Clearly, we're seeing an increase in extreme weather in the U.S., which includes fires. We have been fairly lucky so far in Connecticut. It's hard to know for sure what climate change will mean for Connecticut specifically. But a 3 degree increase since 1970 does not bode well. We're doing nothing globally to address the problem, and ...