The Personal Property Section of the
Assessment Division is charged with the responsibility of discovery, listing and
valuing of all taxable personal property situated within the City of Hartford.
This work must be done annually during the assessment year October 1 through
September 30 and completed so as to coincide with the finalizing, by January 31,
of the Grand List of taxable property.
The basis for assessing personal
property is contained in Connecticut assessment law which directs all
Connecticut assessors in the performance of their prescribed duties.
As it concerns all taxable property,
including personal property, the laws specifically direct that "The present true
and actual value of all property shall be deemed by assessors and boards of
assessment appeals to be the fair market value thereof and not its value at a
forced or auction sale." This directive is commonly known as the assessors
Rule of Valuation and is identified as
ยง12-63 of the Connecticut General Statutes.
For assessors to be able to carry out
their duties, as mandated, Connecticut assessment directives requires close
familiarity with many assessment laws and awareness of others pertaining to the
discovery, listing and valuing of personal property. Assessor's staff must
be familiar with accounting terms and principals and be aware of the different
types of personal property. They also must have more than a general idea of the
value of personal property items and/or be able to quickly reference one or more
sources which would provide a myriad of supportive values for a large number of
tangible, taxable personal property items.