For What It May Be Worth

Connecticut Senate Bill No. 363 would allow a municipality to adopt an ordinance allowing it to impose an annual assessment of $5 per square foot on property zoned for commercial use that is “vacant” and located in a delineated district. "Vacant” property subject to the extra assessment is commercial property “not occupied or actively used for greater than one hundred eighty days, consecutive or nonconsecutive, in an assessment year.” The assessment cannot be levied on properties used for residential purposes.

Exemptions from the assessment, which must be affirmatively applied for under the bill, are available when:

• The property is being actively renovated or is the subject of a pending permit application.
• There are specific legal or regulatory barriers that prevented occupancy during the preceding assessment year. Those barriers can include “pending litigation, environmental reviews or permitting delays.”
• The property “has been impacted by a natural disaster, or is deemed uninhabitable by state or local authorities.”

The imposition of a commercial vacancy assessment can be appealed to the local board of assessment appeals and presumably thereafter to Superior Court.

This proposed legislation reminds the author of the land value tax concept which attempts to spur economic development activity through increased taxation. A land value tax pilot program is on the books at Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 12-63h but has failed to gain traction.

Senate Bill No. 363 will be the subject of a public hearing before the Planning and Development Committee of the General Assembly on March 4, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. along with a number of other bills including the following:

• Senate Bill No. 359 authorizing the City of Hartford to delay its October 1, 2026 revaluation by one year.
• Senate Bill No. 362 concerning revisions to a number of property tax statutes.
• House Bill No. 5394 concerning changes to the Uniform Relocation Assistance Act.