A Connecticut town has increased its grand list of taxable property to more than $5.4 billion.
This means Glastonbury saw $13.1 million in growth for its total taxable net assessment, documents show. This will bring about $423,000 in tax dollars, records show.
The total taxable 2025 gross assessment shows as $5,481,597,276, with 50,263,791 in exemptions, leaving $5,431,333,485 in the total taxable net assessment, documents show. The revised total net assessment for the 2024 grand list was $5,418,141,735, records show.
For the 2024 list, the recalculation and revision took place in March 2025 because the Glastonbury Town Council adopted, as permitted by state law, “to apply a modified schedule of depreciation for motor vehicles,” records show.
The 2024 net taxable assessed value “was revised to $5,418,141,735, resulting in the .76% decrease from the 2023 Grand list being revised to a .09% decrease. The 9.59% decrease in the motor vehicle portion of the list was revised to a decrease of 1.12%,” records show.
The town’s assessor noted the 2024 list was subject to “adjustment by the Board of Assessment Appeals resulting from their March hearings, appeals brought to the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut, and other lawful changes.”
For the 2025 grand list, the town saw $453,483,366 in its gross assessment for motor vehicles, and with $1,876,686 in exemptions, a total net assessment for motor vehicles at $451,606,680, records show. That is for a total of 32,581 motor vehicles, records show.
In terms of personal property, the 2025 grand list shows a total of $243,109,250, with exemptions of $27,313,705 for a net of $215,795,545, records show. That is for 1,904 items, records show.
The largest category, real estate, shows $4,785,004,660 in gross assessment, with exemptions of $21,073,400, meaning $4,763,931,260 in net assessment, records show. This was for a total of 13,983 properties, records show.
Also, the grand list indicates 606 units of tax exempt real estate, with $273,816,500 in exemptions
Glastonbury Assessor Brian Penney said in a notice about the new grand list that the real estate list “went down slightly.”
Penney said there were “three main reasons” this occurred, including that “fewer new homes were built this past year, several tax appeal cases were adjudicated in court, and a tax exemption program for disabled veterans increased dramatically.”
“The Glastonbury residential real estate market remained strong however with continued low inventory, and rising prices. Interest rates have eased a bit from the prior year,” Penney said, in the notice. “The number of residential sales in town decreased from 429 to 402 from the previous grand list year. The average sale price increased 12% from $563,250 to $631,750 and on average closing price remained above asking price at 106%.”
Penney noted the data tracks with “comparable towns and are attributed to continued limited supply and high demand. New home construction slowed with 19 new homes built last year, down from 26 new homes the prior year.”
“This trend has persisted for several years as inventory of builder-ready lots decreases,” Penney wrote. “Building permits issued for residential additions and alterations remain strong as residents continue to invest in their homes.”
He also noted that the commercial market “was steady with signs of growth in the coming years.
“There are numerous apartment and mixed-use projects in various stages of development,” he said.
They include:
- 266 units at Main & Griswold Streets,
- A 170 unit mixed-use project near Main & Hebron across from the Green,
- 157 units at 115 Addison Road,
- 250 units at 50 Feldspar Ridge,
- 31 units at the old tobacco factory at 38 Hubbard St. among others.
“In addition to future projects, current building permit activity shows renovations and improvements being made to the existing stock of commercial properties and occupancy rates remain relatively high,” Penney said. “The personal property Grand List decreased this year due primarily to the disposal of $10 million in assets by one large account.”
He noted that, “more broadly, the business environment remains healthy with 122 new businesses added this year and existing businesses reinvesting in our community.”
Penney also pointed out that the motor vehicle list went up this year, “which was in line with local and national trends.”
“Passenger vehicle sales in 2025 reached a level not seen since 2019 and the average new vehicle price topped $50,000 for the first time ever,” he said. “Car taxes are no longer based on the book value of a vehicle. Last year municipalities throughout the state switched to assessing motor vehicles based on Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price.”
Penney noted that a standardized depreciation schedule “is applied to the MSRP, based solely on the age of the vehicle, and the depreciated value is multiplied by the statewide assessment ratio of 70% to arrive at a taxable assessment.”
Other elements he noted were that the town enacted additional tax relief for farmers and totally disabled veterans in 2025, adopting “a local-option ordinance to increase the exemption of farm machinery and outbuildings from $100,000 to $500,000 each. This helped around 50 farmers” and new legislation in 2025 for totally disabled veterans created an exemption for veterans who have a service-connected permanent and total disability rating of 100%, which allowed “full exemption of the dwelling or motor vehicle owned by the veteran.” He said Glastonbury chose to adopt all available options.