Wilton Campus 1691, LLC. v. Wilton

Citations

• 339 Conn. 157

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 12-55 (b)), an assessor, ''[p]rior to taking and subscrib- ing to the oath upon the grand list . . . shall equalize the assessments of the property in the town . . . and make any assessment omitted by mistake or required by law.'' Pursuant further to statute (§ 12-63c (d)), a property owner required to submit information to an assessor for any assessment year who fails to submit such information shall be subject to a penalty equal to a 10 158 NOVEMBER, 2021 339 Conn. 157 Wilton Campus 1691, LLC v. Wilton percent increase in the assessed value of the owner's property for such assessment year. The plaintiffs, entities that owned commercial properties that operated together as a retail shopping center in the town of Wilton, appealed to the trial court from the decision of the Board of Assessment Appeals of the defendant town. The board had denied the plaintiffs' appeals from the allegedly improper assessment of penalties under § 12-63c (d) by the town assessor as a result of their late submission of certain annual income and expense reports. The trial court rendered judgments for the town, concluding that, although § 12-55 (b) required the assessor to impose the penalties before taking and subscribing to the oath upon the grand list, the only redress for the failure of the assessor to comply with § 12-55 (b) was to postpone the right of the plaintiffs to appeal from the action of the assessor until the succeeding grand list. The plaintiffs appealed to the Appellate Court, which reversed the trial court's judgments. The Appellate Court agreed with the trial court that § 12-55 (b) required the assessor to impose penalties under § 12-63c (d) before signing the grand list but concluded that tax penalties imposed without statutory authority are invalid. On the granting of certification, the town appealed to this court, claiming that the assessor was not bound by the requirement in § 12-55 (b) that assessments omitted by mistake or required by law must