Guest Column: The Contours of the Historic Henrici Tax Hikes

By Mark Sanders
Illustrations by Paul Larocque

There’s a dirty little secret the folks over at Town Hall didn’t want us to know. In fact, the DTC Chair, Joe McDonagh, has publicly denied it, apparently confident that no one would care enough to investigate. Well, we do…and we did.

Here’s the scoop—not only were the Henrici tax hikes the largest in Hamden history, those tax changes were also the most regressive ever. Nearly all commercial and high-end residential properties got tax cuts at the same time lower and middle-range homes saw enormous increases.

To put this in sobering perspective, consider that homeowners of moderate and lesser means have alone paid for the entire two-year spending growth of $20 million and funded millions of dollars in tax cuts for Hamden’s wealthiest residents and business owners!

HART has recently completed a statistical review of each and every taxpaying property in Town, and the results confirm what most homeowners know intuitively and from talking with their neighbors – that nearly everyone was hit hard, and the most vulnerable were hit even harder.

Starting with the big picture, town-wide the average two-year increase for a single-family home was over 21%, while at the same time taxes on commercial properties actually declined!

This disparity reflects the radical redistribution of the tax burden that occurred during the last two years. In 2005, the proportion of Town Revenues collected from homeowners was 78%, with the remaining 22% from commercial owners. During Mayor Henrici’s term of office, the proportion of Town budget collected from homeowners has increased to 82%, with the remaining 18% from commercial owners. This effect alone has raised residential tax bills by over $5,000,000!

The 25 largest commercial property owners have been given property tax breaks totaling over $2.0 million during the last two years, all while the poor and working class are losing homes, prosperity and hope.

Among homeowners themselves there is a direct relationship between home value and the magnitude of the tax changes – the more modest the home, the greater the tax increase. For instance, for properties appraised at 150,000 or less, the average increase was 30, while homes appraised at over $600,000 enjoyed robust tax cuts!

The following graph visually illustrates the regressive nature of the tax changes of the last two years within the residential class.

The horizontal axis of this graph is the 2005 assessed value of the home; the vertical axis is the percentage change in the home’s tax level over the last two years. As one can clearly see, the less valuable a home is, the more its taxes have increased during the current Mayor and Council’s term of office; and the greatest tax breaks were given to those living in higher-end properties.

It is also interesting to note that the impact of the Henrici-era tax changes also vary by geography. While no area of town was spared historically high increases, some areas were particularly devastated.

The Fifth District (Newhall & Whitneyville) was the hardest hit, with average tax increases of 29%, followed closely by the Second District (Hamden Plains) with a 25% average, and the Third (Highwood) and Fourth (Centerville & western Spring Glen), each with increases of 24% on average!

We should also remember that while these average figures are alarming, the most bruising tax changes were reserved for those with the fewest resources to weather the storm. We must not forget that behind the stark, cold data live real people, existing on thin or non-existent margins, who have had their lives dramatically and permanently altered by Mayor Henrici’s reckless and insensitive fiscal policies. Some will surely lose their homes; others will shortchange the other necessities of life to stay in those dwellings.

There were two causes for the dramatic tax changes of the last two years: (1) unbridled spending increases of over $20 million, and (2) the redistributing effect of the 2005 Revaluation.

Obviously, the Mayor and Council could have, and should have, restrained their spending; but what is more disturbing is that they had the ability to provide significant tax relief to homeowners without having to cut a single program or service.

Connecticut state law afforded the Mayor and Legislative Council an opportunity to address the regressive effects of the 2005 Revaluation by enacting a “Phase-In” of assessment changes. A Phase-In would have resulted in over $20 million in targeted tax relief for lower and middle-range homeowners over a five-year period, without any impact on the Town Budget! Inexplicably, the Mayor fought, and his Council defeated, the Phase-In ordinance advocated by HART and sponsored by Councilman Ron Gambardella.

The following graph illustrates the beneficial effect the Phase-in would have had for ordinary homeowners.

The graph shows the relationship between 2005 assessed home values and the percentage of tax increase between 2005 and 2006. The red line shows the actual increases experienced by homeowners; the blue line shows, for the various home values, what those percentage changes would have been if Hamden had enacted a Phase-In.

As the graph well illustrates, the Phase-In would have significantly reduced and cushioned Hamden’s historic tax increases, especially for those of lesser and moderate means.

The common sense wisdom of a Phase-In following revaluation is evidenced by the fact that progressive leaders in our neighboring towns of New Haven, North Haven, Orange, and Milford have provided their homeowners with this important relief. If only Hamden were blessed with such visionary, common-sense leadership . . . .

Copyright © 2007 , reprinted with permission. Originally published on 24 October 2007.

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