(a) Any municipality may (1) enter into an agreement with the owner of any real property to abate the property tax due as of the date of the agreement for a period not to exceed seven years if the property has been subject to a spill, as defined in section 22a-452c, and the owner agrees to conduct any environmental site assessment, demolition and remediation of the spill necessary to redevelop the property. Any such tax abatement shall only be for the period of remediation and redevelopment and shall be contingent upon the continuation and completion of the remediation and redevelopment process with respect to the purposes specified in the agreement. The abatement shall cease upon the sale or transfer of the property for any other purpose unless the municipality consents to its continuation. The municipality may also establish a recapture provision in the event of sale provided such recapture shall not exceed the original amount of taxes abated and may not go back further than the date of the agreement; (2) forgive all or a portion of the principal balance and interest due on delinquent property taxes for the benefit of any prospective purchaser who has obtained an environmental investigation or remediation plan approved by the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection or a licensed environmental professional under section 22a-133w, 22a-133x or 22a-133y and completes such remediation plan for an establishment, as defined in section 22a-134, deemed by the municipality to be abandoned or a brownfield, as defined in section 32-760; (3) enter into an agreement with the owner of any real property to fix the assessment of the property as of the last assessment date prior to commencement of remediation activities for a period not to exceed seven years, provided the property has been the subject of a remediation approved by the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection or verified by a licensed environmental professional pursuant to section 22a-133w, 22a-133x, 22a-133y or 22a-134; or (4) forgive all or a portion of the principal balance and interest due on delinquent property taxes for the benefit of any Connecticut brownfield land bank, as defined in section 32-760, that has acquired or will acquire any real property within the municipality.

(b) Any abatement or forgiveness of taxes or fixed assessment or any combination thereof under subsection (a) of this section shall be approved by vote of the board of finance, if applicable, and the legislative body of the municipality, or by vote of the board of finance, if applicable, and the board of selectmen in a municipality where the legislative body is a town meeting and contingent upon any other conditions deemed appropriate by such body.

(c) A municipality shall notify the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, the Commissioner of Economic and Community Development and the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management not later than thirty days after granting any abatement or forgiveness of taxes or any fixed assessment under subsection (a) of this section. Such notice shall provide the owner’s or purchaser’s name, as the case may be, and the address of the property.

(P.A. 97-109, S. 1, 2; P.A. 98-253, S. 1; P.A. 05-288, S. 51; P.A. 10-135, S. 3; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; 11-104, S. 2; P.A. 13-308, S. 13; P.A. 17-214, S. 7.)

History: P.A. 97-109 effective June 6, 1997, and applicable to assessment years commencing on or after October 1, 1997; P.A. 98-253 entirely replaced previous provisions re property tax abatement on environmentally impacted sites with new Subsecs. (a) to (c), inclusive, adding provision in new Subsec. (a) re forgiveness of taxes, and provisions of new Subsec. (c) re notification of state officials; P.A. 05-288 made a technical change in Subsec. (c), effective July 13, 2005; P.A. 10-135 amended Subsec. (a) to include provision re brownfield in Subdiv. (2) and add Subdiv. (3) re fixed assessment and amended Subsecs. (b) and (c) to include provisions re fixed assessment, effective July 1, 2010, and applicable to assessment years commencing on and after October 1, 2010; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection”, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 11-104 made a technical change in Subsec. (c), effective July 8, 2011; P.A. 13-308 amended Subsec. (a)(2) by replacing reference to Sec. 32-9kk(a)(1) with reference to Sec. 32-760, effective July 1, 2013; P.A. 17-214 amended Subsec. (a) by adding Subdiv. (4) re forgiveness of delinquent property taxes for Connecticut brownfield land banks and made a technical change, effective July 1, 2017.