West Hartford homeowners should start seeing a preliminary value notice from Vision Government Solutions this month. The notice lists your prior assessed value, your new one, and instructions for booking an informal review with a member of the Vision appraisal team. The new value is the one most people will look at first. On its own, though, it can't tell you whether your taxes will go up.
The first place this shows up is in a sale. A buyer looking at a West Hartford listing this winter sees a tax figure based on the 2021 revaluation and the current 46.77 mill rate. The new assessments go on the October 1, 2026 Grand List, and that list produces the tax bill due July 1, 2027. So anyone who closes in the first half of 2027 will budget from one tax number and then pay the first bill on a different basis. Both buyers and sellers need to understand what that next number depends on.
Revenue neutral describes the town, not your house
The town's revaluation consultant explains the idea plainly on its West Hartford revaluation page:
"With an increase to the Grand List overall, West Hartford's governing body can reduce the mill rate, lessening any required tax increase. In other words, the mill rate would fall by a proportionate amount, assuming budgets pre and post revaluation were identical."
The mill rate is the amount the town needs to raise from property taxes divided by the total taxable assessments. When every assessment in town rises, the rate falls to offset it. If your assessment rises less than the average, your share of the levy shrinks. If it rises more, your share grows. Vision says so directly. If values in your area rose less than values elsewhere, "your share of the tax burden could be reduced as a result of revaluation." The reverse is also true.
No one can know the new mill rate until the full Grand List is finished and the town adopts its budget in spring 2027. The last revaluation shows how the math worked out in practice.
What 2021 showed
The 2021 revaluation increased West Hartford's Grand List by 12.2%, to $7,177,283,988 in net taxable value. Real property accounted for an 11.2% gain. The Town Council then lowered the mill rate from 42.42 to 40.68, a cut of 1.74 mills or 4.1%, according to We-Ha's report on the FY2023 budget.
The lower rate still produced higher bills for many owners. Using an assumed average assessment increase of about 13.58%, then-Acting Town Manager Rick Ledwith estimated that a taxpayer who paid the average $9,652 in real and personal property taxes in FY2022 would pay about 8.92% more the next year. The rate fell, but the average assessment rose by more.
The table below runs that arithmetic for homes that moved different distances. It applies the 2021 rate change to the full new value and leaves out the phase-in described further down. It is not a forecast for 2026.
| Change in a home's assessment | Change in its tax bill at 42.42 → 40.68 mills |
|---|---|
| No change | About 4.1% lower |
| +13.58%, the assumed 2021 average | About 8.9% higher |
| +20% | About 15.1% higher |
| +30% | About 24.7% higher |
The 2021 increases varied widely. Some parts of town saw assessments rise 20% to 30% or more, mainly east of King Philip Drive, north of Albany Avenue, and in Elmwood. Two homes on different sides of town could get notices months apart in their effect, even if each owner thought "my value went up" was the whole story.
Commercial property also helped shift the balance. Commercial values overall rose about 7%, well below the residential increase. Some major parcels dropped. The Grand List comparison table shows Blue Back Square going from $72.45 million in 2020 to $37.33 million in 2021, and Westfarms from $52.15 million to $44.10 million. Apartment properties went the other way. Steele Road rose from $23.43 million to $26.07 million, and 1248 Farmington Avenue rose from $18.83 million to $21.11 million. The Hartford Courant described the result as moving the tax burden from local businesses toward homeowners.
Why the 2026 gap may run along property type
Vision's page says residential prices in West Hartford "have increased significantly" since 2021. SmartMLS data shows how much. The single-family median sale price was $365,000 for all of 2021, across 888 closed sales. For January through September 2026 it was $573,500, across 430 closed sales. That is about 57% higher, and up 3.7% from the same nine months of 2025. Over the same nine months, single-family buyers paid an average of 109.3% of list price.
Townhouses and condos moved differently. Their median for January through September 2026 was $340,000, down 5.4% from $359,450 in the same period of 2025. Revaluation divides the levy by relative value. A single-family home whose market rose more than the town's overall Grand List would take on a larger share. A condo whose market cooled over the past year would likely take on a smaller one. These are sale-price trends, not assessments, and appraisers value each property against similar properties as of October 1, 2026. Still, they show which way the comparison could tilt.
The year before revaluation was quiet by comparison. The 2025 Grand List, the last one before the new values, came in at $7,370,255,222, up 1.12% from 2024, according to the FY2026–27 adopted budget.
What the price you paid has to do with it
Many recent buyers paid well over asking, so they may expect their assessment to follow their purchase price. Vision addresses this in its FAQ. Fair market value is "not always" what you paid. A single sale doesn't set a value, and "all valid sales in a given neighborhood are used as guidelines." The question is what the property was worth on October 1, 2026 compared with similar properties.
That's also why the property record matters. Vision's data collectors record building size, type and age, renovations, number of stories, siding, heating, air conditioning and outbuildings. The firm calls the informal review "the proper place and time to correct any errors and miscalculations." Adjustments are made when an owner shows that a description error significantly affects value. If you're selling in 2027, the corrected record is what your buyer's attorney and lender will see.
The calendar from notice to bill
Vision's posted project timeline sets out this sequence:
- November–December 2026. Preliminary value notices are mailed and informal reviews take place with Vision appraisers.
- January–February 2027. Owners who attended an informal review receive a second notice showing any change.
- February 1–20, 2027. Applications to the Board of Assessment Appeals are filed.
- March 2027. Board of Assessment Appeals hearings are held and values are certified.
- Spring 2027. The town adopts its budget and sets the new mill rate.
- July 1, 2027. The first tax bill based on the October 1, 2026 Grand List is due.
If you still disagree after the Board of Assessment Appeals, the FAQ names an appeal to Superior Court under C.G.S. §12-117a as the final step. The West Hartford Assessor's Office is at 50 South Main Street and can be reached at (860) 561-7414.
Phase-ins can change this timeline. Under C.G.S. §12-62c, a town's legislative body can phase in revaluation increases over no more than five assessment years. In 2022 the Town Council counted 75% of increased real property values in the first fiscal year and the remaining 25% the year after. If a phase-in is adopted again, the first post-revaluation bill would be only part of the change, and a buyer would want to know there is a second step coming.
This post explains how the process works. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, so check your own assessment and any appeal decisions with the Assessor's Office or a qualified professional.
Quick answers
My assessment went up a lot. Will my taxes go up by the same percentage? No. Vision's FAQ says the mill rate will be adjusted during the spring 2027 budget process. Your bill depends on how your increase compares with the townwide increase and on the budget the town adopts.
Does the revaluation raise money for the town? Vision describes it as revenue neutral and says it is meant to value every property by the same standards at the same point in time, October 1, 2026.
Does asking for a review count against me? Vision's FAQ says no, and says the Assessor's Office encourages owners to review their assessment.
I'm buying this winter. Which tax figure should I plan around? The figure on a listing today uses the 46.77 mill rate and pre-revaluation values. The bill due July 1, 2027 will use the new Grand List and whatever rate the town sets in spring 2027.
If you're planning to sell or buy in West Hartford in 2027 and want to see how the new assessment fits with recent sales on your street, the Marshall & Ostop Team can go through your notice with you before the informal review window closes. Schedule a complimentary home consultation.
