Feb. 7—WINDSOR — The town's grand list of taxable property grew by $246.2 million in 2022, mostly because of new construction, and an increase in the number of vehicles and equipment installed at the Amazon facility on Kennedy Road, Town Assessor Lawrence LaBarbera said.
TOP 10 ASSESSMENTS
Amazon Companies: $324.9 million.
Northeast Utilities & Affiliates: $100.6 million.
Indus Realty Trust Limited & Affiliates: $86.2 million.
Walgreen Eastern: $ 78 million.
CIGNA: $56.5 million.
Voya Retirement Insurance: $55.9 million.
Dollar Tree Distribution Inc.: $54.6 million.
Hartford Financial Corp: $51.2 million.
Cellco/Verizon Wireless: $39.9 million.
Addison Property Owner LLC: $31.1 million.
The total net taxable assessment including personal property, motor vehicles, and real estate for Oct. 1, 2022 totals $3.5 billion, a 7.44% increase compared to the previous year.
Personal property, which is primarily business equipment and a fair indicator of a town's economic health, saw the biggest spike, increasing by 30.17% for a total of $591 million.
"The vast majority of this increase is due to the fitting-out of equipment at the Kennedy Road Amazon facility," LaBarbera said.
The newly built Amazon facility opened in the fall of 2022, Town Manager Peter Souza said.
That company's property account went up by $131.5 million. The following closest change was from IBM Credit LLC, which saw an increase of $6.7 million in personal property.
Amazon is also partly responsible for the 3.62% jump in the real estate assessment.
In June 2020, the Windsor Town Council unanimously approved a three-year property tax abatement worth about $8.8 million for the Amazon warehouse.
Souza said that the abatement is still on track to expire at the end of the fiscal year 2025.
Also contributing to the $93 million growth in real estate assessment is the addition of more houses at Poquonock Commons, LaBarbera said.
The assessments for motor vehicles in town increased by $16.2 million, or 5.61%, for a total of $305.4 million.
According to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, the number of vehicles in Windsor grew by 568 for a total of 27,153, which LaBarbera said are commercial fleet vehicles located in town.
Souza said Amazon is a contributing factor in that area of growth.
LaBarbera also noted that the new pricing guide from J.D. Power, a data analytic and consumer insight company, reflects higher costs of new and used vehicles than in previous years.
The top 20 taxpayers in Windsor are responsible for just over $1 billion of the net grand list. Topping the list is Amazon with a net value of $324.9 million.
New to the list is Scannell Properties with a net value of $25.6 million. The property at 1190 Kennedy Road includes two warehouses on 40.8 acres of land, which was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission in July 2021.
Collin covers South Windsor and East Hartford for the Journal Inquirer.