Bristol's Grand List Grows By 4.03%, ESPN Remains Top Taxpayer

By Dean Wright, The Bristol Press

February 10, 2022

Bristol’s Grand List over the past year has grown by 4.03% and, according to City Assessor Tom DeNoto, the list has almost regained everything it lost since the Great Recession.

“In 2011, we had about a $4.3 billion net Grand List,” said DeNoto. “This Grand List, with all this appreciation and without a revaluation being factored in, is a little over $4.2 billion. So, we’ve almost recouped everything that the Grand List lost since the Great Recession, which is phenomenal.”

The Great Recession is a period commonly recognized in the late 2000s where economic activity took a steep drop and is considered one of the worst of its kind since the Great Depression. Areas throughout the world are still feeling its socio-economic impact.

“We had the Great Recession and the fallout in 2010 and 2011 and it ultimately impacted our 2012 revaluation whereby the overall Grand List lost over $541 million,” said the assessor. “It’s a segue into hopefully creating a base that we’re now in revaluation for 2022 and I would also like everyone to look forward to the fact that real estate values pretty much across the board, other than some pockets in retail, have seen significant increases.”

As of 2020 the net Grand List for real estate in Bristol was $3,277,961,401. The Grand List net value for real estate in 2021 was $3,292,435,489 for a change of .44%. The 2020 net Grand List for personal property numbered at $375,179,742 and at $416,645,363 in 2021 for an increase of 11.05%. Motor vehicle values between the 2020 and 2021 net Grand List jumped the most significantly from $423,223,031 to $531,744,636 by an increase of 25.64%.

The total previous 2020 net Grand List numbered at $4,076,364,174 and 2021’s numbered at $4,240,825,488 for an increase of 4.03%.

Following are the top 10 taxpayers in Bristol and their assessments. ESPN is first with a total net assessment of $267,969,160; second is Eversource Light & Power with an assessment of $76,143,780; Covanta comes in third with an assessment of $34,289,150; fourth is the Bristol Center, LLC, with an assessment of $33,513,690; Disney Streaming Tech, LLC, takes the fifth spot with an assessment of $31,732,330; sixth, Yankee Gas Service Co. has an assessment of $ 29,250,470; Bristol Sports Center DST is seventh and has an assessment of $25,297,930; D’Amato Construction and its affiliated LLCs are placed at eighth and assessed at $24,321,137; ninth, the Federal Realty Investment Trust is assessed at $22,658,300 and, tenth, Carpenter Realty Company is assessed at $20,825,858.

This year is a recent appearance for Disney Streaming Tech on the list. According to ESPN Vice President of Corporate Communications Mike Soltys, Disney Streaming is housing equipment at the ESPN campus in Bristol as part of Disney’s digital streaming service products.

DeNoto said that with personal property, there’s a straight line depreciation schedule with moveable assets in business such as furniture, fixtures and equipment, and it declines by 10% annually.

DeNoto noted recent work to improve properties and other economic factors had boosted real estate values to a high level. Overall, 444 out of over 2,100 taxable parcels received some kind of net increase in assessed values. Nearly 60 of those increased over $100,000.

In personal property assessments, of the roughly 2,300 taxable accounts, 943 of them increased in value and over 220 new accounts were added.

“Bristol has always been, in my 13-plus years being here as city assessor, we’ve always seen a good amount of growth,” said DeNoto. “A lot of that stems from ESPN. Even though ESPN itself as its own entity saw some disposal of assets, they have Disney Streaming operating in the background that added a net of $27 million to that portion of the Grand List.”

The assessor said that Disney initiatives were roughly half of the $41 million the city saw in overall increases.