Opinion piece: this article represents the personal view of the author.
Edit: this article was updated to make the position of Democrats more clear.
Dear Citizens of Rocky Hill,
When you say Kelson Row (the former Ames property) will be the 3rd largest taxpayer in a few short years’, why don’t you just say the actual year that they will pay property taxes-2034! Last time we checked, the property is almost fully occupied, there is a bus stop there with kids going to our schools and the developer is collecting rents, the retail space is all still vacant and let’s be real – 2034 is certainly not a few short years way, it’s going to be a full decade before we see taxes from your ‘cornerstone’ legacy project.
If residents don’t like to pay the increase in their taxes and are not happy that this developer isn’t paying their fair share, then we hope you will consider voting Row A, this election.
Note: AlI Democrats voted NO on this abatement while Republicans Mayor Marotta, Pankaj Prakash, Alan Greenspan, and Jeff Levine voted YES.
One response to “Tax Benefits From Kelson Are Years Away”
I voted no on the abatement because it was much more generous to the developer than it should have been. When I proposed that the taxes increase each year once units were occupied and rents (which generally include costs for taxes) were collected my proposal was rejected. In my opinion the over generous abatement is blatantly unfair to residential and most other commercial tax payers who saw significant assessment and tax increases after last year’s revaluation. In 2032 after several years of no tax increases Kelson Row will only be paying 20% of estimated taxes and in 2033 only 40%. To me that is unacceptable and why I am proud to have voted no on the tax abatement.