(a) The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management shall establish a pilot program in up to three municipalities whereby the selected municipalities shall develop a plan for implementation of land value taxation that (1) classifies real estate included in the taxable grand list as (A) land or land exclusive of buildings, or (B) buildings on land; and (2) establishes a different mill rate for property tax purposes for each class, provided the higher mill rate shall apply to land or land exclusive of buildings. The different mill rates for taxable real estate in each class shall not be applicable to any property for which a grant is payable under section 12-18b.

(b) The secretary shall establish an application procedure and any other criteria for the program and shall send a copy of such application procedure and any other criteria to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to planning and development. The secretary shall not select a municipality for the pilot program unless the legislative body of the municipality has approved the application. The secretary shall send a notice of selection for the pilot program to the chief executive officer of the municipality and to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to planning and development.

(c) After receipt of the notice of selection provided by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the chief elected official of such municipality shall appoint a committee consisting of (1) a representative of the legislative body of the municipality or where the legislative body is the town meeting, a representative of the board of selectmen; (2) a representative from the business community; (3) a land use attorney; and (4) relevant taxpayers and stakeholders. Such committee shall prepare a plan for implementation of land value taxation. Such plan shall (A) provide a process for implementation of differentiated tax rates; (B) designate geographic areas of the municipality where the differentiated rates shall be applied; and (C) identify legal and administrative issues affecting the implementation of the plan. The chief executive officer, the chief elected official, the assessor and the tax collector of the municipality shall have an opportunity to review and comment on the plan. On or before December 31, 2020, and upon approval of the plan by the legislative body, the plan shall be submitted to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to planning and development, finance, revenue and bonding and commerce. Any municipality that has previously applied for and participated in the pilot program established pursuant to this section shall be ineligible for subsequent selection to participate in the pilot program.

(P.A. 09-236, S. 1; P.A. 13-247, S. 329; P.A. 15-184, S. 7; 15-244, S. 190; P.A. 16-80, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 09-236 effective July 1, 2009; P.A. 13-247 amended Subsec. (a) by changing “a single municipality” to “up to three municipalities” and making a conforming change, amended Subsec. (b) by deleting provisions re eligibility requirements for program and adding provisions requiring secretary to send copy of application procedure and criteria and notice of selection for pilot program to planning and development committee of General Assembly, and amended Subsec. (c) by substituting “elected official” for “executive officer”, adding new Subdivs. (1) to (3) re membership of committee, designating existing provision re committee membership as Subdiv. (4), requiring committee, rather than executive officer, to prepare plan, adding chief elected official to officials having opportunity to review and comment on plan, changing “2009” to “2014”, adding commerce committee to committees of General Assembly to which plan is to be submitted, and making technical changes; P.A. 15-184 amended Subsec. (c) to change “2014” to “2015” re submission of plan to committees of General Assembly, and add provision re municipality that previously applied for and participated in pilot program to be ineligible for subsequent selection, effective July 2, 2015; P.A. 15-244 amended Subsec. (a) by replacing reference to Sec. 12-19a or 12-20a with reference to Sec. 12-18b, effective July 1, 2016; P.A. 16-80 amended Subsec. (c) by changing December 31, 2015, to December 31, 2020, effective July 1, 2016.