Townwide Property Reassessment

Townwide Property Reassessment

The Town of Waterbury is undertaking a reappraisal of all properties in the Town.  

Why is a reappraisal necessary

The Town lister maintains our Grand List, which contains every property in the Town, and their associated assessed value. The Grand List is used to calculate municipal and education tax rates. The reappraisal is done to help ensure property values on the Grand List are consistent with the real estate market. To account for annual changes in the market, the state applies a “Common Level of Appraisal (CLA)” to all properties on our grant list. The CLA is currently 56.62%, meaning our Grand List has properties valued at only 56.62% of the current real estate market.  When this occurs, the State of Vermont orders a reappraisal.

What does this mean for my taxes?

In general, the reappraisal should not impact your property taxes. When determining your education taxes, the CLA is already utilized to adjust the value of your property. For example, a home valued at $300,000, after adjusting for the CLA, would actually be valued at $529,848 for education tax purposed. When the reappraisal is completed your property values will likely increase to match the current market, but the CLA would also be at or near 100%.

The CLA does not impact your municipal taxes. Again, your property values will be higher, but the municipal tax rate would be lower. The way to influence your municipal taxes is to participate in local government when the budget is developed and discussed, and to attend Town Meeting Day when the budget is discussed and approved or denied by the voters.

What is the schedule

We are still determining the final schedule. The Town will subdivide regions and notify property owners of the reappraisal, and request access to your property so we can gather accurate information. Before the reappraisal is completed every property owner has the right to grieve their property value. Our goal is to complete the reappraisal before finalizing our 2026 grand list, which is based on property values as of April 1, 2026. However, the grand list does not have to be finalized until the summer, and we will hear all grievances.