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By Karen Fassuliotis
As a Greenwich taxpayer for over 40 years and former Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) member, I've felt the sting of rising property taxes just like you have—watching our hard-earned dollars vanish into a system that promises fairness but delivers anything but. The town's recent revaluation explainer, current BET Chair, David Weisbrod, with his sunny assurances that a 27% average assessment hike won't crush your tax bill, is nothing short of a masterclass in misdirection. It peddles the illusion that a dropping mill rate will magically offset everything, "all else equal."
But let's cut through the spin: This revaluation isn't neutral—it's a rigged game that widens inequalities, invites budget bloat, and sets the stage for hidden tax grabs. If the spending is not challenged head-on, we'll all pay the price. Here's why the current BET Chair’s narrative crumbles under scrutiny, backed by real-world examples that hit close to home.
First, the core claim—that the mill rate "automatically adjusts downward" to neutralize assessment spikes—is built on a foundation of sand. It assumes the town budget stays frozen. But that's a fantasy in Greenwich, where spending has recently surged relentlessly, thanks to First Selectman Fred Camillo’s bloated budgets and Schools Superintendent Toni Jones runaway school spending.
The BET Chair presents a reassuring picture: a roughly 27% average increase in residential assessments will be largely offset by a lower mill rate, keeping tax impacts modest "all else equal." However, the First Selectman's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2026-2027, effective July 1, 2026) introduces significant spending growth of $27 million (or about a 5.2% increase) that directly challenges this neutrality. If the current proposed budget is passed unchanged, it would lead to noticeable tax increases for most homeowners, even after revaluation adjustments.
The BET Chair’s illustrative example? It's Exhibit A in persuasive propaganda—cherry-picked math that ignores the messiness of reality. The table claims a 30% assessment increase yields just a 3.6% tax bump, but it conveniently freezes the budget and assumes uniform grand list growth. Even more insidious is how the "town-wide average" of 27% masks a brutal redistribution of pain. The explainer suggests that if your assessment rose below average, you might even see taxes drop—like some kind of reward for underappreciation.
But that illustration falls flat on its face. If the grand list swells by 27% but the budget creeps up by even 3-5% the projected mill rate drop from 12.041 to 9.6 shrinks dramatically. Suddenly, your "only 3.6% tax increase" example becomes a 7-10% tax hit. This isn't happenstance; it's how towns quietly fund expansions without admitting they're raising taxes. In nearby Stamford, a 2023 revaluation promised similar offsets, but post-budget adjustments left average homeowners with 8% higher bills. Greenwich is on the same path—unless the BET reduces spending before setting the mill rate in May.
Let’s look at the numbers to see why a reduction in taxes is all smoke and mirrors (stick with me, I know it’s a lot of math, but it’s important when you are comparing the pre and post valuation numbers):
Suppose your house is valued at $1,000,000 before the latest revaluation and after the revaluation increases by the average of 27%, or is now valued at $1,270,000. Using this example:
In the latest revaluation, your $1,000,000 house is now valued as $1,270,000. Because the town-wide grand list increases about 27% due to the revaluation, your home increases by the same 27%:
But look what happens when you factor in the projected increase of 5.2% to the budget:
This isn't cherry-picking; it's what happens when "all else equal" collides with fiscal reality. Without budget growth, the revaluation feels like a wash. With it, it's a stealth tax bump. And while my example may not seem as a lot to some, if the current budget rises by the projected 5.2% increase, taxes will be even higher for those seeing an increased valuation of 30% or more. Rinse and repeat every five years on top of the other tax increases in the previous four years and taxes just keep going up and up.
It's economic Darwinism at its best, widening Greenwich's already yawning wealth gap and pushing middle-class families toward the exit.
Greenwich deserves better than this smoke-and-mirrors routine. If the BET, and ultimately the Representative Town Meeting, passes the proposed operating budget without reductions—despite non-binding guidelines and calls for restraint—many residents will face higher tax bills than the explainer's examples suggest. Homeowners concerned about this should review their specific assessment notices (mailed November 2025), consider appeals (deadlines passed or ongoing for some), and engage with BET meetings as the final mill rate is set in May 2026.
Greater transparency would pull back the curtain on how budget growth quietly turns revaluation ‘relief’ into another tax hike. We all deserve to see the machinery, not just the polished press release—so the next increase isn’t a surprise, but a choice we all get to debate.
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