Somers cut its mill rate by 6.75 mills this year, from 30.21 to 23.46. If you saw that drop while comparing towns, you might assume taxes got cheaper. For the typical Somers home, they didn't.
The rate came down because assessed values went up. After the revaluation dated October 1, 2025, local property appreciated about 43% on average, according to Journal Inquirer reporting in CT Insider. So the rate went down by about a fifth while the average assessment went up by more than two-fifths. Where a home lands against that 43% average now decides whether its bill rose or fell. That matters most when you're reading the tax line on a listing.
The tax figure on a listing may come from the old Grand List
Somers bills real estate tax in two installments, on July 1 and January 1. The town's tax collector page says bills paid during calendar 2025 carry bill numbers starting with 2023 or 2024. Those bills were figured on Grand Lists from before the revaluation. The current bills are based on October 1, 2025 values.
This fall, two sets of tax numbers are in circulation for the same houses.
- Old Grand List bills: assessments as of October 1, 2020, taxed at 30.21 mills for the 2024 Grand List.
- Current bills: assessments as of October 1, 2025, set by Vision Government Solutions at 70% of fair market value, taxed at 23.46 mills.
Both figures are real, but only the second one tells you what owning the home costs now. If an annual tax figure came from a bill paid in 2025, it was built on 2020 values and the old rate. In Somers this year, that can miss by a wide margin in either direction.
Checking it is simple arithmetic. Look up the property's current assessment on the town's Vision Government Solutions assessment database, multiply by 23.46, and divide by 1,000. Say a home's fair market value was $400,000 on October 1, 2025. Its assessment would be $280,000, and the real estate tax at 23.46 mills would come to about $6,569 before any exemptions. That number is only an illustration. The point is that the inputs are public and current.
Why the rate dropped so far
Connecticut towns don't set the mill rate first and then send bills. They work out how much revenue they need and divide it across the Grand List. When the Grand List grows by about 43%, the same budget spread over it needs a much lower rate.
The town's FY2027 budget presentation laid out that math. Revaluation alone pulled the rate down 7.81 mills, from 30.21 to 22.40. That 22.40 was the rate needed to fund the FY2026 level of spending on the new values. The proposed FY2027 budget needed a 2.13-mill increase on top of it.
That 22.40 starting point clears up a line in the news coverage. The Journal Inquirer described the 23.46 rate as "a 1.06 increase over the current mill rate." That 1.06 is measured against the revaluation-adjusted 22.40. It isn't measured against the 30.21 owners saw on last year's bills.
The town's own rate history shows how unusual this year's swing was:
| Grand List year | Mill rate | Revaluation year? |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 24.22 | Yes |
| 2019 | 27.37 | No |
| 2020 | 26.66 | Yes |
| 2021 | 27.56 | No |
| 2022 | 28.31 | No |
| 2023 | 28.96 | No |
| 2024 | 30.21 | No |
| 2025 | 23.46 | Yes |
The 2020 revaluation moved the rate down 0.71 mills, from 27.37 to 26.66. The 2025 revaluation moved it down 6.75. A drop that size means values rose a lot. It also means a home whose value rose less than the town's did came out of the revaluation in a very different place than a home whose value rose more.
Your bill follows the town average, not the mill rate
If a home's assessment rose by the same share as everyone else's, the lower rate doesn't offset the higher value. If it rose by less, it can.
The new rate is about 77.7% of the old one, since 23.46 divided by 30.21 is about 0.777. Multiply that by each home's appreciation factor and you get a rough change in real estate tax. These are illustrations only. They ignore exemptions, motor vehicle and personal property taxes, and any changes to a home after October 1, 2020.
| Illustrative home | Value change, 10/1/2020 to 10/1/2025 | Approximate change in real estate tax |
|---|---|---|
| Rose less than the town | +25% | About 3% lower |
| Break-even point | About +29% | Roughly flat |
| Matched the town average | +43% | About 11% higher |
| Rose more than the town | +60% | About 24% higher |
The break-even comes from dividing 30.21 by 23.46, which gives about 1.29. At the posted rate, a home whose assessment rose less than about 29% over those five years would see a smaller real estate tax bill. A home that rose more would see a larger one.
The town hasn't published a breakdown of appreciation by property type or neighborhood. The 43% figure is reported as an average for local property, so no one can say from public sources which kinds of homes landed above or below it. You can still check any one property, though. Compare its 2020 and 2025 assessments on the Vision database, and you'll know which side of the break-even it's on.
Why the budget failed four times
The budget process ran on the same calendar as the new assessments. The first referendum, on May 19, proposed a $42.97 million budget. It failed by 26 votes with less than 13% of the electorate voting. Three more votes failed after that.
First Selectman Tim Keeney told the Journal Inquirer that once average appreciation came in around 43%, many residents became convinced their tax bills would rise by the same amount. He described "a major effort" by town officials to explain that the rate would be adjusted downward when values rose.
The math above shows why both the fear and the reassurance were partly right. The rate did fall a long way. A home that matched the average still paid more, though nowhere near 43% more.
Because the budget wasn't settled, bills had to go out anyway. On June 18, the Board of Selectmen set a temporary rate of 23.46 under Connecticut General Statutes §12-123. "We have bills that have to get paid," Finance Director Brian Wissinger said, as reported by the Journal Inquirer. "We have bonding notes that are due." Keeney told the paper the rate needed to rise slightly even with spending held flat, because of less state revenue and no more room to draw down the fund balance.
The service cuts were concrete. The senior center and transfer station each closed one day a week. The budget that finally passed on July 14, 2026, totaled $41.6 million, down from $41.8 million the year before. Voters approved it 807 to 608 with 22.35% turnout. It came with Saturday closures at the library, three eliminated positions in the library and recreation departments, and one full-time public works job cut to part-time.
Which rate is actually on the books
This part matters if you're running carrying-cost numbers on a Somers home this fall. On July 6, the Board of Finance recommended the $41,640,005 budget with a mill rate of 23.09. After the vote, Keeney told the Journal Inquirer that the approved budget was lower than what the town raises at the rate the selectmen had already set. "It's a possibility some things will be restored," he said.
Even so, the town's tax collector page still lists 23.46 as the current rate for the 2025 Grand List. Board of Finance minutes from September 29 report no return to fund balance for the fiscal year that ended in June and an estimated fund balance of 13.75%. Town records reviewed through early October show no revised rate or credit. For now, 23.46 is the rate the bills were issued at and the one the town publishes.
Quick answers
Does Somers revalue on a regular schedule?
Yes. The Journal Inquirer called the October 2025 revaluation the town's most recent five-year revaluation. The town's rate history marks revaluations in 2015, 2020 and 2025. Between those years, assessments stay fixed and the rate does the moving.
Did any nearby towns go through the same thing?
Ellington also revalued as of October 1, 2025. Its real estate rate went from 37.10 in FY2025-26 to 25.42 in FY2026-27. Ellington also pushed its first FY2026-27 billing date back from July 1 to August 1. The same logic applies. At those rates, an Ellington home's assessment would have needed to rise by roughly 46% before its real estate tax went up. Because each town's break-even depends on its own revaluation, a lower headline rate in one town doesn't mean lower taxes than in another.
Is the old tax figure useless?
It's an accurate record of what the owner paid on the old Grand List. It doesn't predict the current bill. The current assessment times the current rate does.
If you're weighing a Somers home, or thinking about selling one and want to know how its current assessment compares with today's market, Cindy Muska can pull the property's 2020 and 2025 assessments and show you where it lands against the town average before you set a price or make an offer. Call or text to get started with a free home valuation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
