October 1, 2023 Revaluation        

TOWN   OF ORANGE   

Why does Orange have to perform a revaluation?

The State of Connecticut requires all municipalities to revalue all real property at fair market value every five years.See CGS 12-62 and CGS 12-63.The last revaluation was conducted for the October 1, 2017 grand list. The Town was scheduled to perform the next revaluation for the October 1, 2022 Grand list but chose to postpone the revaluation to the October 1, 2023 grand list. Please see Special Act No. 22-6.

Did the revaluation process begin?

J.F Ryan & Associates Inc. was hired to assist the Town with the project.

J.F. Ryan & Associates in conjunction with the Assessor started the

field canvas of all residential dwellings and residential condominiums

to ensure the accuracy of listings over the 2022 calendar year.  The field canvas will  resume in March 2023 and continue through September of 2023. It will involve all commercial properties along with commercial condominiums, building permits and new construction.

What can I expect?

Data Mailer

A data mailer will be prepared by J.F Ryan & Associates Inc which will summarize the listing of improvements to land. Each owner will receive this data mailer. The data mailer will contain instructions on how to correct inaccurate information. The data mailers are scheduled to be

mailed in August of 2023.                                                                

New Assessment Notice

Notices showing the new assessments are scheduled to be mailed by late November 2023. It will contain instructions on how to schedule an informal hearing with J.F. Ryan personnel.

Informal Hearings

Informal hearings will be by appointment. J.F Ryan and Associates Inc.

will provided instructions on how to secure an appointment. 

Final Increase Notice  

The final increase notices are scheduled to be mailed in early to 

mid-February of 2024. The final increase notices will reflect any adjustments made during the Informal hearing process.

 Board of Assessment Appeals

If you are aggrieved by the new assessment, you may schedule a

hearing with the Orange Board of Assessment Appeals which will convene in April of 2024. Hearings are by appointment only.

Board of Assessment Appeal forms will be available in mid-February

of 2024. It is imperative that you submit your completed appeal form

on or before March 20,2024. 

The Revaluation Process         

Connecticut State law requires that all municipalities revalue all real property, either taxable or exempt, every five years. The attached frequency distribution chart summarizes the count of each property type in Orange. See 10-1-2023 revaluation.rtf. 

Since the town is required to value all properties contained within the chart, we utilize mass appraisal. Mass appraisal is the process of determining property values as of a given date by looking at sales information for many properties, property characteristics, and statistical testing.  The mass appraisal process is performed on a computer assisted mass appraisal system or CAMA system. A computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) system is an automated system for maintaining property data, valuing property, notifying owners, and ensuring tax equity through uniform valuations. The Town is currently using Vision’s

CAMA V8 system.

J.F. Ryan & Associates Inc.

The Town of Orange contracted J.F. Ryan & Associates Inc. ( the Firm) to assist the Assessor in the revaluation project.

The Firm will conduct the critical phases of development: 

      • Sales verification 

      • Data mailers 

      • Valuation model building 

      • Field review

         • Final valuation

     • Performance testing 

     • Informal hearings

The Firm will be conducting these critical phases of development from March of 2023 to January of 2024. 

J.F. Ryan & Associates Inc. performed Orange’s first CAMA revaluation in 2000, the 2006 revaluation and the 2017 revaluation.   Their revaluations had very good results. 

The Orange Market

You are probably aware that the Orange residential prices have risen dramatically, starting in March 2020. The attached from the Warren Group shows the rate of increase since the last revaluation in 2017. 

We have yet to see the effects of the tightening policies from the Federal Reserve on the housing market. We will closely monitor sales throughout the 2023 calendar year. 

      Viewing current sales and future updates        

Current sales will be presented as a theme on the Assessor’s section of 

the Town of Orange web site to facilitate your understanding  of the current market. Please go to www.orange-ct.gov .

Click on Departments, then click Assessor. Look for the theme GIS/parcel data. Please read the Quick Tips. It will improve your viewing experience.

Sales will appear under the Additional Layers option. 

The  current sales and the listing for each property will be available in mid-May of 2023.           

As the revaluation moves forward, we will supply updates on the Town web site.