In a recent column in its “Property Tax and Valuation Topics: Summer 2015” report, Bridgeport-based law firm Pullman & Comley, with offices in the region, including in Stamford and White Plains, put forth questions rooted in climate change, which is increasingly losing its abstractness. The authors were attorneys Laura Bellotti Cardillo, Elliott B. Pollack, Gregory F. Servodidio and Tiffany Kouri Spinella, and the article was titled “The Environment and Property Taxes.” It said climate change is “quite likely” headed for front-burner status in property assessments on the Long Island Sound and asks what the development might mean for properties inland, as well.
“It seems that many stakeholders are trying to deal with climate change,” the report said.
“Connecticut”™s hundreds of miles of coastline along the Long Island Sound include many low-lying areas, which scientists tell us will be hit by rising sea levels. The future market value of these properties and the scope of these changes must be taken into account, now or in the future, when appraisers do their work.
“Will the sale prices of properties at lower elevations (more likely to be impacted by rising sea levels) impact properties at higher elevations? What role do periodic FEMA flood map changes play in appraisal results? Will it be sufficient to simply refer to current maps or must appraisers examine trends and consider sources outside of FEMA materials? What impact will insurance underwriters”™ decisions have on property values?
“As premiums inevitably increase, insurance no longer becomes available, or only with inadequate coverages or vastly increased deductibles. How will the property market react? To the extent that market data do not display strong indications of climate change on current valuations, are appraisers nevertheless entitled/required to take these elements into consideration?
“These and other questions remain to be explored in greater detail. What is quite likely, however, is that climate change will gradually move to occupy a front-burner position in property valuation determinations. The budgets of many cities with rising sea level exposure will inevitably suffer as waterfront properties, formerly large tax generators, become less valuable.”
