Manufacturing Site, Town of Simsbury Settle Dispute

SIMSBURY, CT — A court battle between the town and a major industrial site ended last month with an assessment settlement that will result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost tax revenue.

The Simsbury Board of Selectmen voted unanimously last month in favor of a settlement agreement with Simsbury Hopmeadow Street LLC, which owns the industrial sites for both Dyno Nobel and Ensign-Bickford Aerospace and Defense at 632 Hopmeadow St.

Dyno Nobel specializes in industrial explosives, from the technology to deliver them to the actual explosive materials. Its products are frequently used in the mining and construction industries.

Ensign-Bickford, meanwhile, makes hardware and energetic systems for spacecraft, military, and industrial applications.

At issue was the market value determined by the town of the industrial site.

The 2022 revaluation listed the site, which features over 50 buildings constructed between 1865 and 1985, as having a $17,518,400 market value and an assessed value of $12,262,880.

But Simsbury Hopmeadow Street LLC challenged the assessment, claiming the assessment should be $8.5 million, an assessed value $3.76 million less than what the town said it should be.

On May 30, 2023, Simsbury Hopmeadow Street LLC filed court papers challenging the assessment in Hartford Superior Court, with the case eventually transferred to New Britain Superior Court.

Since then, the case has made its way through the courts among myriad court filings and motions.

It all ended April 21 with selectmen unanimously approving the settlement deal, avoiding a court proceeding to determine the new value/assessment.

According to the terms of the deal, the site's new market value goes from $17,518,400 to $11,250,000, resulting in a new assessed value of $7.875 million.

Town officials said this deal has resulted in Simsbury Hopmeadow Street paying $268,000 more in taxes during the past fiscal year.

According to the pact, that dollar amount would come off the company's next tax bill.

Counting ongoing tax abatement agreements, the settlement agreement will cast the Town of Simsbury $420,000 in revenue from the last three fiscal years since the revaluation.

The selectmen's motion on April 21, which came after entering and exiting an executive session, was to authorize Simsbury Town Attorney Robert DeCrescenzo to execute the agreement with Simsbury Hopmeadow Street LLC.

For the minutes of the April 21 Simsbury Board of Selectmen meeting, click on this link.

For documents related to the case, click on this link and scroll to Page 100-109.