Public Act 490 Guide - CT.gov

PROPERTY REVALUATION AND PA 490
PA
490
SECTION 10: PROPERTY REVALUATION AND PA490
Revaluation is the process of determining what the
fair market value is for all properties in a municipality.
Municipalities are required to conduct a revaluation of all
real property every five years in accordance with CGS
Section 12-62(b)(1). This requirement and the process it
entails sometimes results in confusion and raises many
questions on the part of PA 490 landowners.
The revaluation process is not a review of your PA 490
status. Most often the revaluation process is conducted
by consultants hired by a town for the purpose of the
revaluation. All property is treated the same during this
process. Adjustments are made later by the town depending
upon what special conditions apply to a given property
including the reduced assessment of PA 490.
As an owner of real property, the PA 490 property
owner will receive notice of the revaluation for that property.
That notice will reflect the assessment (which is 70%
of the fair market value) for the property and not your
PA 490 value. Some assessors may enclose a second
notice for owners of PA 490 land showing the assessment
after applying PA 490 values; others do not. Keep in mind
that state law requires owners of all real estate to be
notified of the 70 percent full market value of their property
regardless of its classification under PA 490. A landowner
should read notices carefully. If the landowner is
unclear as to whether or not the property assessment is
reflective of market or PA 490 value, it is recommended
that they contact the assessor in the municipality where
the land is located and ask which classification it reflects.
The values for various categories and subcategories
for PA 490 classifications are required to be updated
every five years by the Office of Policy Management (CGS
Section 12-2b), in consultation with the Department of
Agriculture (PA 94-201).
Accordingly, a PA 490 property owner should expect
that the assessment on their PA 490 land may change every
five years. Such PA 490 adjustments may or may not
coincide with a town’s overall revaluation of real property.
In a year of revaluation, an assessor may send
out a questionnaire to owners of land classified as
PA 490 farmland in order to update town records.
This is to verify that the land is still being actively
farmed either by the owner/farmer or by a lease
farmer. This is also a way for the assessor to assure
that the farmland is categorized properly and to
assure fairness and equity in the process. It is not
necessary nor appropriate for a landowner to fill out
a new application for PA 490 farmland, but rather to
merely revise as necessary the information in the
original application. It is important that the owner
of PA 490 farmland respond to the assessor when
this information is requested and to make copies of
all submitted documents.
The PA 490 values determined by the Connecticut
Office of Policy and Management and the Department of
Agriculture are recommended values generated to assist
towns in assigning a value to PA 490 properties. In doing
this, the Department of Agriculture has broken down
each category into various subcategories. For farmland
there are eight subcategories and for forest land there is
one. If a property owner or assessor is in doubt as to what
the proper subcategory should be, a consultation with
the Department of Agriculture, Connecticut Farm Bureau,
the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection
Division of Forestry, the local agricultural extension offices,
or the Soil and Water Conservation District will be helpful
in determining the proper designation.
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Public Act 490: A Practical Guide and Overview • http://www.cfba.org/pa490guide.htm • Connecticut Farm Bureau Association