PA 07-255—sHB 7332

Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee

AN ACT ELIMINATING THE SUNSET DATE ON THE PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION FOR SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS AND AUTHORIZING MUNICIPAL TAXATION OF CERTAIN CONNECTICUT RESOURCES RECOVERY AUTHORITY PROPERTY

SUMMARY: Municipalities by ordinance, may exempt active, passive, and hybrid solar energy heating and cooling systems from property taxes for 15 years after they are installed. Such exemptions were formerly allowed only for (1) active systems installed on or after October 1, 1976 and before October 1, 2006 and (2) passive and hybrid systems installed on or after April 20, 1977 and before October 1, 2006. The act eliminates the October 1, 2006 expiration dates, thus allowing more recently installed systems to be eligible for exemptions. (PA 07-242 makes the exemption mandatory for systems installed on or after October 1, 2007. It also extends the exemption to passive and active solar water or space heating systems and geothermal systems installed on or after that date in any type of building. ) The exemption applies to the difference between what the assessed valuation of the property would be with a conventional heating and cooling system and what it is when equipped with a solar system.

The act also allows a municipality to tax certain property owned by the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA) and leased to someone else. It requires the lessee to pay the tax. Under prior law, all CRRA property was exempt from local property taxes.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007

CRRA PROPERTY

The act allows a municipality to tax CRRA property leased to any lessee or operator as of July 1, 2007 under an initial site lease entered into on or before December 31, 1985. If the property secures any CRRA bonds outstanding on July 1, 2007, the act does not apply until the bonds are paid off. In addition, if the lease was in effect on January 1, 2007, the act does not apply until the lease term in effect on that date expires and there is a new lease or the lease is amended, renewed, or extended. Finally, the act does not apply in any municipal fiscal year in which the property is covered by an agreement between CRRA or CRRA's lessee and the municipality for payments in lieu of taxes on the property.

The act requires CRRA's lessee to pay any taxes imposed under its provisions. It gives the lessee the right to appeal the property assessment in the year it becomes taxable to the municipality's board of assessment appeals and the Superior Court according to the regular procedure. It requires an assessor to follow the same procedure for adding the property to the grand list and notifying and billing the property's lessee as the assessor must use for any other formerly tax-exempt property that comes onto the tax rolls.

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