Alders Richard Furlow and Evelyn Rodriguez at Monday night’s Finance Committee meeting. Yale took less property off the tax rolls last year — meaning that the city is able to tax a little more real estate than it has in years past. Still, according to Acting City Assessor Alexzander Pulle n, more than half of real estate value in New Haven — or more than $10 billion in total — remains tax-exempt. Pullen delivered that update to the Board of Alders Finance Committee Monday night at City Hall, kicking off what will be months of deliberations and hearings on Mayor Justin Elicker’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026-27 (FY27) budget before a final vote. Read more about Elicker’s proposed $733.3 million general fund budget, which includes a 4 percent tax increase, here. Elicker announced his budget on Feb. 27. Pullen provided the Finance Committee with an update on the 2025 Grand List, which was finalized on Jan. 31. According to Pullen, the net taxable grand list — which includes real estate, personal property, and motor vehicles — is valued at $9,258,290,680. This is a 2.48 percent increase from the 2024 Grand List total of $9,034,084,421. That’s a bigger jump than the city is used to seeing between revaluation years, which occur every five years as the city re-assesses every property. (The next revaluation is scheduled for October of this year.) Last year’s grand list was down half a percent. “This year’s 2.5 percent increase puts us in a much better situation,” said Pullen. There are a few reasons behind the increase, Pullen explained. Building department permits, classified as “new growth,” account for $23 million. Another $90 million comes from developments that received tax assessment deferrals finally being phased onto the tax rolls; and the remainder is driven both by nonprofits that failed to re-apply for tax-exempt status and some previously exempt properties being sold and made taxable. Yale also removed only two properties from the tax rolls, according to Pullen: 282 Prospect St., a house, and 53 Broadway. They have a combined value of around $2.6 million — a “drop in the bucket” compared to, say, Yale’s purchase of med-tech complex 300 George St. in 2023, which took more than $56 million in assessed value off the tax rolls. (Due to the terms of Yale’s 2021 agreement with the city, which was recently extended and expanded for another six years, the university continues to pay a full tax-equivalent payment to the city for three years for newly tax-exempt properties. After that, Yale pays the city a declining portion in such tax-equivalent payments for another decade for those properties.) Of that $9.25 billion 2025 Grand List total, taxable real estate is valued at $7,888,685,783. That’s only 44 percent of real estate in the city; 56 percent of real estate remains tax-exempt. Tax-exempt real estate is valued at an assessed $10,603,984,551. Yale University owns 43 percent of the city’s tax-exempt real estate, valued at around $4.5 billion, while Yale New Haven Hospital owns 17 percent, valued at $1.75 billion. Yale University is still the second largest taxpayer in New Haven — behind United Illuminating. The assessed value of its taxable property is $146,192,992. “Are there any properties that were significant that came off of the grand list?” East Rock Alder Anna Festa asked. Pullen said there weren’t, not this year. “Yale sends us every year a letter letting us know what properties are coming off,” he said. “This year we didn’t have a lot of big properties that came off.” Festa asked whether any significant properties were added to the grand list. Pullen explained that many big buildings that are added are still in their tax deferral program, meaning their assessment is frozen at pre-construction value for two years and is then phased in across several years after that. One example of a new addition, however, is The Winston, formerly known as Winchester Green. “That is now and next year,” he said. “Next year it’s really going to be going up.” “We Can’t Continue On The Pockets Of The Taxpayers” McCue and Gizzi present the mayor’s budget to alders. City Budget Director Shannon McCue and Finance Department Project Coordinator Ron Gizzi also presented Elicker’s budget to the Finance Committee. Hill Alder Evelyn Rodriguez and Majority Leader and Westville/Amity Alder Richard Furlow pushed back. “This trend going up and up and up every year is extremely concerning to a city of majority blue-collar workers, who are struggling to pay and to manage,” Furlow said, regarding the general fund’s consistent increase in recent years. “The majority of us are one paycheck away from being booted if things get out of control.” “How much of what we’re looking at in this budget is new spending versus cost growth?” he asked. McCue noted that it would be useful to separate fixed costs from operating costs. “It’s always that balancing act,” she said. “How do you pay for the legacy costs from the debt and the pension, and how do you provide services that the city so needs?” “When you look at this trend, some of it is out of our control to some extent,” McCue continued. “We definitely are looking at the things within our control.” “What’s in our control is new spending,” Furlow said. He agreed that he would like to see the breakdown of fixed costs versus operational costs. Rodriguez highlighted the expertise of the city’s finance and economic development departments. “What other funding can we use to increase revenue, considering where our city is?” she asked. “We can’t continue on the pockets of the taxpayers.” “Economic Development is very active in bringing industry, new housing, new opportunities to the city,” McCue said. She also highlighted a push at the state level to increase funding to the city, particularly for education. “It’s something you have to keep at day in and day out. Try to grow the city, work with the state to get more resources for the city, work with Yale to get money that helps the city,” she said. But also, “How can we do things more efficiently?” The post 56% Of City Real Estate Still Tax-Exempt appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less