Enfield Things

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...

  Slide from Town Council meeting June 15 2026 Enfield home values increased 42% since the last revaluation five years ago, according to data presented to the Town Council Monday night. That's a preliminary number based on sales to date. The town will continue reviewing property sales through the summer, which could change the percentage.  The preliminary residential increase is not, by itself, the story. The story is whether Enfield's commercial and industrial sectors have appreciated enough to prevent another shift of the tax burden toward homeowners. The commercial value analysis is just starting, according to the town. Residents will get their new assessments mid-November.  With revaluation, the mill rate drops to offset the higher grand list base, which includes the value of all taxable properties, including commercial and industrial. What determines whether homeowners actually pay more is the spread between residential and other sectors. Residents were advised not t...

The town assessor cited four examples to the Town Council monday of price gains on Enfield homes since the last revaluation. This home showed the most dramatic increase. The jump may be due to strong demand for lower-priced homes, upgrades made between sales, or a combination of both. The Town Council plans to give regular public updates on the upcoming property revaluation. The first of those updates came last night with a look at how sharply residential property values have increased since the previous revaluation. Enfield is conducting a property revaluation as required by state law. The process will run through 2026, and residents will receive their new assessments in November of that year. Those assessments will apply to the FY28 budget, which takes effect in July 2027. Residential values in Enfield have risen significantly since the 2021 revaluation (See examples below). The concern for town officials is a potential tax shift: if commercial property values have not increased at t...

  Unless we acknowledge the real forces behind rising property taxes in Enfield, we risk blaming the wrong people — and repeating the same mistakes. The revaluation now underway—the one that affects the 2026 fiscal year—may deliver a tax hike as steep, or worse, than the last one. Since the 2021 revaluation, property taxes have increased nearly 19% . But much of that wasn’t due to runaway spending—it was a shift in who pays. Homeowners, in particular, took the hit. Using my own Southwood Acres ranch as an example: My assessment rose 27% in 2021. My taxes rose about $800 between 2022 and 2025. Roughly $355 of that increase—about 45%—was directly tied to revaluation. That 45% didn’t improve our schools, parks, or roads. It didn’t fund new services. It simply corrected an imbalance in the grand list—and left many residents feeling squeezed. Why It’s Happening The short answer: residential values are soaring. Commercial and industrial values are not. That imbalance is shifting a greate...

This was the budget data the Charter Revision Commission examined. It shows the percentage of budget increase by year. The budget increase does not translate to a tax increase. In 2023, the Democrats for instance, lowered spending but taxes still increased. The party and COLA columns were added by author.  The Charter Revision Commission’s 7% budget referendum proposal isn’t reform — it’s a political weapon. It's disguised as fiscal responsibility, but it’s engineered to shift blame, confuse voters, and lock Enfield into bad policy. There are some good ideas in the commission’s package. But this one? It shouldn’t go to the ballot. Here’s what the proposal says: If town expenditures increase by more than 7% over the current fiscal year, it would trigger a referendum. That sounds reasonable — until you understand the facts. The 7% Fiction First, Enfield hasn’t approved a 7% budget hike in at least 15 years — likely far longer. No council, Republican or Democrat, proposes a 7% hike u...

  In the 2021 municipal election, Enfield Democrats won 7 out of the 11 council seats, helped by a voter turnout of about 7,850 -- a substantial 19% increase over the 2019 municipal election. To maintain a majority, the Democrats will likely need a similarly strong turnout on Nov. 7 But the Democrats face obstacles this time because of revaluation. Property taxes increased by around 10% for many.  Meanwhile, council Republicans are leveraging this increase in taxes. They've taken to their mailers, chastising Democrats as having "gone hog wild with taxes and spending." Aside from being false, this criticism overlooks Enfield's underlying issues — issues for which the Republicans, after 14 years at the helm, cannot evade responsibility. You can think about revaluation like Warren Buffett talks about stock market declines: "Only when the tide goes out do you learn who has been swimming naked." It means everything looked good until the market crashes, and then p...