Assessor

The Assessor's office is primarily responsible for preparing the Town's Grand List. The Grand List is generated each year in January or February and is a record of all taxable and tax-exempt property as of Oct 1st. Taxable property includes real estate and personal property, including motor vehicles. The office is also responsible for maintaining the assessor maps and data about all properties, and for applying tax exemptions or reduction programs such as the veterans, disabled, elderly, blind, and PA 490 programs. Please call or email the Assessor for information about these programs.

Please email or call to make arrangements in advance if you require access to the assessor's records or an appointment for a tax reduction program application.

MAPPING INFO:  As of July 1, 2024, GIS information is now available through our Parcel Data.  

• Search the property and hit the "Map It" button on the parcel information screen.  
• Then choose "Go to Vision GIS map" to have the map load onscreen for review and printing.

Printed copies of tax maps are always available in the Assessor's office for $1 per map.  Only those changes made for the 2023 tax year are reflected in our current maps as survey maps filed after 10/1/2023 with the Town Clerk will not be reflected until after October 1, 2024.  Therefore, these tax maps are NOT to be used for legal purposes as accuracy at any given time cannot be guaranteed!

PARCEL INFORMATION:  When viewing Parcel Data, please be aware that online data is only updated a few times a year and may not yet reflect deed or map changes currently in process.

As of June 1, the PRELIMINARY values for the 2024 revaluation are displayed online.  These are NOT final values and do not impact the tax bills or mill rate for the July 2024 tax bills.  As the sales market continues to boom, these values may increase further because your house is appreciating in value.

VALUES FOR THE OCTOBER 1, 2024 REVALUATION ARE EXPECTED TO BE 50% OR MORE HIGHER THAN PREVIOUS ASSESSMENTS!

DON'T PANIC because this is how it works:  When values go up, mill rates MUST come down to compensate.  If you are curious or skeptical, click https://gis.vgsi.com/canterburyct/ to see the mill rate history for Canterbury and watch how after an increasing Revaluation result, the mill rate dropped in 1990, 2004, 2009 and 2020.  There is no compelling or planned expenditures in the upcoming budgets to require a 50% increase in revenue and therefore the mill rate will be adjusted accordingly next budget season.  This means business and car taxes may be lower next year too.  

There is no need to panic about a drastic tax increase that isn't going to happen.  In fact, your home may now be worth more than ever so if a plan to escape to warmer climates lives in your mind, now might be the time!  Use our Property Sales tab on the right to see sales lists from the last few years or use our search tool to see what other houses near you have sold for recently: https://gis.vgsi.com/canterburyct/Sales.aspx