Bill Text: CT SB00468 | 2014 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Establishing Initiatives To Promote Home Ownership.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-03-13 - Public Hearing 03/17 [SB00468 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2014-SB00468-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 468
February Session, 2014		LCO No. 2597
		*02597_______FIN*
Referred to Committee on FINANCE, REVENUE AND BONDING
Introduced by:
(FIN)

AN ACT ESTABLISHING INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE HOME OWNERSHIP.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2014) (a) For purposes of this section, "owner-occupied home" means a residential unit within a residential or mixed-use building containing not more than four residential units, one of which is occupied as a primary residence by the owner of the unit.

(b) A municipality where thirty per cent or less of its residential units are owner-occupied homes shall, and any other municipality may, by vote of its legislative body or, in a municipality where the legislative body is a town meeting, by vote of the board of selectmen, institute a program to promote homeownership in certain areas of such municipality. Such program shall abate property taxes and provide an exemption from personal income taxes for residents within certain census blocks that have owner-occupied home rates of fifteen per cent or less.

(c) A municipality choosing to proceed under this section shall determine which of the census blocks within such municipality have a number of owner-occupied homes equaling fifteen per cent or less of the residential units in such census block, and shall designate two or more of such census blocks as a homeownership incentive block. The municipality shall abate one hundred per cent of the property taxes on any owner-occupied home within a homeownership incentive block.

(d) The Department of Revenue Services shall exempt each person living within a homeownership incentive block from the taxes due under chapter 229 of the general statutes, other than the liability imposed by section 12-707 of the general statutes, provided such persons shall continue to be eligible for the credit under section 12-704e of the general statutes. The municipality shall provide the department with any information needed by the department to allow such exemption.

(e) The tax abatements and exemptions offered to owners of owner-occupied homes pursuant to subsection (b) of this section and to residents within a homeownership incentive block pursuant to subsection (c) of this section shall continue until the number of owner-occupied homes within such block meets or exceeds forty-nine per cent. Upon reaching such percentage, the abatement and exemptions allowed pursuant to this section shall phase out over a five-year period. (1) The municipality shall charge the owner of each owner-occupied home twenty per cent of the property tax otherwise owing during the first assessment year commencing after the forty-nine-per-cent goal is reached, and an additional twenty per cent each year thereafter, until the owner is liable for all property tax owed on such owner-occupied home. (2) Residents of the homeownership incentive block shall be liable for twenty per cent of the income tax otherwise due, as described in subsection (d) of this section, in the first taxable year commencing after the forty-nine-per-cent goal is reached, and shall be liable for an additional twenty per cent each year thereafter, until all such residents are liable for all income taxes owed. The municipality shall provide the department with any information needed by the department to process such phase-in.

Sec. 2. Section 12-62r of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2014):

(a) For the purposes of this section:

(1) "Apartment property" means a building containing four or more dwelling units used for human habitation, the parcel of land on which such building is situated, and any accessory buildings or other improvements located on such parcel;

(2) "Residential property" means a building containing three or fewer dwelling units used for human habitation, the parcel of land on which such building is situated, and any accessory buildings or other improvements located on such parcel;

(3) "Base year" means the assessment year commencing October 1, 2010; [and]

(4) "Adjusted tax levy" means the total amount of taxes raised by taxation in a fiscal year by a municipality; and

(5) "Owner-occupied residential property" means a dwelling unit in a residential property that is occupied as a primary residence by the owner of the dwelling unit.

(b) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes or any special act, municipal charter or any home rule ordinance, any municipality in which the provisions of section 12-62n were effective for the assessment year commencing October 1, 2010, shall make annual adjustments to the assessment rate charged to apartment and residential property in accordance with the provisions of this section, but in no event shall the assessment rate for any class of property be in excess of seventy per cent.

(c) For the assessment year commencing October 1, 2011, in any municipality that adopts the property tax system under this section, apartment property shall be assessed at a rate of fifty per cent. For assessment years commencing on and after October 1, 2012, the assessor shall determine a rate of assessment for apartment property that will have the effect of phasing in proportionate increases in the rate so that, by the assessment year commencing October 1, 2015, the assessment rate for apartment property shall be seventy per cent.

(d) In any municipality that adopts the property tax system under this section, for the assessment year commencing October 1, 2011, and only for said assessment year, the assessor shall determine a rate of assessment for residential property that will have the effect of increasing the average property tax for residential property as a result of revaluation by three and one-half per cent over the property tax for such property class in the base year, but in no event shall the assessment rate be less than twenty-three per cent. For assessment years commencing on and after October 1, 2011, the assessor shall then calculate an adjustment to the rate of assessment for residential property in accordance with subsection (e) of this section.

(e) Not later than January thirty-first or the completion of the grand list, whichever is later, the assessor shall annually calculate the difference in the adjusted tax levy by such municipality in the current fiscal year and the prior fiscal year. The assessor shall then adjust the adjusted tax levy for the current fiscal year in accordance with any change in the consumer price index for all urban consumers in the northeast region in the preceding fiscal year. If, after such adjustment, (1) the adjusted tax levy in the current fiscal year exceeds the adjusted tax levy in the prior fiscal year by more than one hundred per cent of the rate of inflation, as determined in accordance with such consumer price index, the assessor, in his or her calculation of the assessment ratios for the next grand list, shall increase the rate of assessment for residential properties from the prior grand list year by five per cent; (2) the adjusted tax levy in the current fiscal year exceeds the adjusted tax levy in the prior fiscal year by more than fifty per cent, but not more than one hundred per cent, of such rate of inflation, the assessor shall increase such rate of assessment by three and one-half per cent; (3) the adjusted tax levy in the current fiscal year exceeds the adjusted tax levy in the prior fiscal year by not more than fifty per cent of such rate of inflation, the assessor shall increase such rate of assessment by two and one-half per cent; (4) the adjusted tax levy in the current fiscal year is equal to the adjusted tax levy in the prior fiscal year, or is less than one-half per cent less than the adjusted tax levy in the prior fiscal year, the assessor shall increase such rate of assessment by one and one-half per cent; and (5) the adjusted tax levy in the current fiscal year is less than the adjusted tax levy in the prior fiscal year by at least one-half per cent, the assessor shall make no change in such rate of assessment.

(f) For assessment years commencing on and after October 1, 2016, any municipality that adopts the property tax system under this section may, by vote of its legislative body, enact an ordinance to establish a program to encourage homeownership by adjusting the annual assessment rate for non-owner-occupied residential properties so that, while the annual assessment rate for owner-occupied residential properties shall be calculated at all times in accordance with subsection (e) of this section, the annual assessment rate for non-owner-occupied residential properties shall be calculated at a rate that shall keep the annual assessment rate for owner-occupied residential properties lower than that of non-owner-occupied residential properties. Any ordinance enacted pursuant to this subsection may be amended only in a year in which such municipality conducts a revaluation of real property pursuant to section 12-62.

[(f)] (g) Not later than June fifteenth in any year in which the adjusted tax levy in the current fiscal year increases by more than two and six-tenths per cent over the adjusted tax levy in the prior fiscal year, one per cent of the total number of electors of such municipality may petition in writing for a referendum on the budget establishing such increase. Any such referendum shall be held not more than ten days after receipt of such petition by the town clerk and shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of chapter 90. Such budget shall not become effective unless a majority of the electors voting in such referendum vote in favor thereof. Only one referendum may be held, and, if the vote is against the budget, such municipality shall so adjust the budget as to limit any increase to be equal to or less than two and six-tenths per cent.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	July 1, 2014	New section
Sec. 2	October 1, 2014	12-62r

Statement of Purpose:

To provide municipalities with a program providing incentives for homeownership and to allow the use of different annual assessment rates for owner-occupied homes than for non-owner-occupied homes.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]