Streamlining Public Safety Costs for Condo Owners

A meeting of local condominium association members was held this evening, October 6, 2011 at the Quail Hollow Clubhouse. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the inequalities in the taxing structure of the town for the care of fire hydrants and street lights in condominium complexes. Since the inception of condominiums there has always been an inequality with how a structure is taxed. Unlike a single family home, condominiums are assessed the same but in this case pay extra common element fees for street lights and fire hydrants in their complexes; services that are normally part of a single family homeowners regular taxes. Currently we require that each association supply utility bills to us at specific intervals which are then reviewed and sent for payment. Such a process causes significant delay in payment to the specific utility. This in turn puts burden on the town staff to complete an unnecessary process.

Look at this example of how this relates to your taxes. Fire hydrants and street lights are required as part of the planning and zoning approval process. If your home is located closest to a hydrant in a condominium complex, and the fire department utilizes it to extinguish a fire in your single family home, the condo complex has to pay the water company for the water used to save your home. If a hydrant is used that is not on a condominium property, the town of Vernon pays for the water used to extinguish the fire. A condominium owner is not only paying for the hydrant in their property taxes, but they are also paying for it again in their common elements fees.

Many have suggested an ordinance as a way to make it permanent. However, an ordinance requires Town Council approval, 7 affirmative votes, and will require renewal every ten years.

My recommendation is to have the municipality under the planning statutes accept each utility as a municipal utility the same as we do with residential dwellings. This would include CL+P and CT Water. The condominium owners would still be paying for their common elements separately. The Town Council will still need to approve the acquisition of the utilities once comment has been received back from the planning commission.

The town has already been paying these costs for the condo association. It would eliminate the need for the reimbursement process and free up town financial staff to focus on other necessary duties.

Attached you will find the OLR (Office of Legislative Research) Research Report relative to Condominium Assessment for Property Taxes. Under current statutes we cannot adjust assessments to reflect the level of services the town provides to condominium complexes.

The reason for this measure is to correct inconsistencies in our current taxing structure and to prevent condominium owners from paying twice for these public safety services.