The town’s grand list is up 1.04 percent or $51.5 million from last year, despite the national economic downturn. The list is an accounting of all the taxable property in West Hartford as of October 1, 2009.

If the current mill rate were applied to the increase, it would mean $1,933,744 more in property tax, Assessor Joseph Dakers Sr. said. A new mill rate would not be set until late spring, after a 2010-11 budget has been adopted.
“It was not a surprise given the activity that we have seen in this community over the past three or four years in terms of development and building permit activity,” he said. “It’s not all Blue Back Square. Blue Back is just about done. It’s other things, such as our motor vehicle grand list that is up $3.6 million.”

That was a bit of a surprise. “We saw an increase in the retail value of used vehicles” including SUVs and light trucks as well as “a large increase” in commercial trailers, he said. There was also 131 fewer motor vehicle accounts than the previous year.

Patrick Sullivan, a senior property appraiser for the town, was named Assessor of the Year in 2009 by the Connecticut Association of Assessing Officers for his work to developed a software system to help identify and value residential and commercial trailers.

“The town was finally able to capture the complete identity of these vehicles where, in the past, we were only capturing the chassis,” Dakers said.

Even with 63 fewer business accounts, personal property is up about $4.3 million. This is attributed to businesses investing in furniture, fixtures, equipment and machinery.

Real estate – residential and commercial– represents about 60 percent of the increase, or $34.2 million. There were 23 more real estate parcels in 2009 than in 2008.

The town has $732 million in tax-exempt property. That brings the gross grand list to almost $7 billion – $6,945,852,750. That’s up $41 million from 2008.

The grand list is based on 22,342 parcels of taxable real estate, 2,791 businesses and 47,267 motor vehicles.

Top 10 Highest Taxpayers

1)  $67,170,020  Blue Back Square

2)  $35,000,000  Westfarms

3)  $34,558,100  SW CT Corbins Corner Shopping Center LLC

4)  $28,615,000  CL&P

5)  $27,932,870  E&A Northeast Limited Partnership
                           (333 North Main Street / Walgreens plaza)

6)  $23,053,600  Town Center West Associates
                           (29 South Main) 

7)  $17,870,180  Wire Mold Co.

8)  $15,962,800  Sisters of Mercy McAuley Center 

9)  $14,919,400  Prospect Plaza Improvements LLC

10) $14,350,000 Bishops Albany LLC (Macaroni Grill plaza)