Hartford, Property Tax, and Budget Shortfall

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Joseph De Avila, Tax Quirk Pushes City Toward Bankruptcy; Hartford with many exempt properties, spotlights quandary of state capitals.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/har ... quandary-1496750405
http://www.foxbusiness.com/featu ... uandary-update.html

Quote:

(a) "Hartford, Connecticut's capital city and hub of the state's insurance industry * * * The city's $49.6 million [for this coming year, fiscal year 2018] budget hole and the impending departure of one of its biggest employers, Aetna Inc, have shined a light on its unusual predicament: Half of the city's properties are excluded from paying taxes because they are government entities, hospitals and universities.

(b) "Around the US the main source of funding generated by municipalities is property-tax revenue, contributing 47% of the money raised by local governments, according to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

(c) "Hartford, with a population of about 125,000, is home to the University of Connecticut School of Law, Trinity College, Hartford Seminary and the state Supreme Court.

"Other cities in similar situations include Boston, where just over half of the property in the city is tax exempt. In Baltimore, about 32% of the property is tax exempt, and in Philadelphia it's 27%.

(d) "Only 64 bankruptcies have been filed by cities, counties, towns and villages since 1954, according to James Spiotto, an attorney who tracks municipalities' bankruptcies. In 2013, Detroit became the largest-ever U.S. municipal bankruptcy case.

(e) "Since 2000, Hartford has increased its property-tax, or millage, rate seven times. The rate is now more than 50% higher than it was in 1998.

"At the current level, a Hartford resident who owns a home with an assessed value of $300,000 currently pays an annual tax bill of $22,287, at rate of 7.43%. A West Hartford homeowner with a similar house pays $11,853 at a rate of 3.95%.

Note:
(a) Pat Eaton-Robb, Aetna in Talks to Move Its Headquarters out of Connecticut. Associated Press, May 31, 2017
("Aetna, the nation's third-largest health insurer, has a workforce of almost 50,000 and employs about 6,000 people in Connecticut. It traces its roots in Hartford to 1819")
(b) property tax in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_tax_in_the_United_States
(section 7 Exemptions and incentives)