Southington Grand List Increase is Hardly Grand

If members of the Southington Board of Finance and Town Council hope to maintain the mill rate in 2013-14, they will be forced to do so without much assistance from increases in the grand list.

The town released the annual grand list on Thursday afternoon and while there were gains in real estate, motor vehicles and personal property, those increases were minimal.

Southington Town Assessor Brian Lastra presented a list that showed just a 0.45 percent increase overall, with real estate rising by just $10.75 million, or 0.38 percent, in 2012. Motor vehicle property increased by only $4.29 million and personal property saw a growth of $1.72 million.

"This isn't far off from what we expected," Lastra said. "A large part of this is out of our control. It all depends on the economy and while it's still in recovery, there's just not a lot of people willing to invest."

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The grand list increase isn't as large as the town would normally hope for, Southington Town Manager Garry Brumback said, but coming off a revaluation year and in the midst of a struggling economy, maintaining growth rather than any losses still benefits the community.

The increase represents an additional $450,000 in tax revenue at the current mill rate. It's not much, Brumback admits, but it gives the town a decent starting point to work from this budget season.

Furthermore, Brumback noted that many towns are anticipating negative changes this year and would be happy just to remain in the black.

"We are still making forward progress and there is a lot of hope that we will see larger gains (in 2014)," Brumback said. "This isn't a lot, but it's better than nothing."

Lastra said the town was adversely affected in 2012 by the loss of The Hartford, which finished moving all it's assets out of the community. He said many new developments also haven't been completed, but companies like the Connecticut Online Computer Center, an Avon-based company scheduled to bring 200 jobs to one of the former The Hartford buildings in 2013, will help bring additional assets to the community.

Residential developments continue to be built in the community, Lastra added, and will also help spark next year's grand list.

"The town took a pretty good hit and came out alright," Lastra said. "We are expecting a better return (in 2014)."

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