Did Connecticut’s 1993 chronic hospital tax grant change the 1993–94 municipal payment?

Plain-English summary

Superseded: In the later official opinion, the AG wrote that “the 1994 Act supersedes our May 24, 1994, opinion.” The later opinion allowed the 1993–94 grant after the legislature added retroactive language. This page preserves the earlier reasoning as historical context.

In May 1994, Connecticut’s AG concluded that the new grant eligibility for tax-exempt property owned by free-standing chronic disease hospitals did not apply to the state’s 1993–94 payments in lieu of taxes to municipalities. The amendment took effect July 1, 1993. Those payments were based on property eligible on the preceding October 1 and reported by municipalities by April 1, 1993. Hospital property in the new category had not been eligible on October 1, 1992, so it could not enter that fiscal year’s calculation.

The AG also rejected use of the grant statute’s recomputation mechanism to include it. That mechanism addressed a state reevaluation of already submitted property and a court’s later change to such a reevaluation. It did not add property categories that had been ineligible at the underlying assessment date. The opinion expressly covered 1993–94 and earlier grants.

Municipal officials at the time

The opinion excluded this newly eligible hospital property from the 1993–94 grant calculation, even though the amendment took effect before the September payment.

State grant administrators at the time

The AG read the recomputation provision as a correction mechanism for valuations, not a way to backdate eligibility to the prior grand list.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1994. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Did a July 1993 law increase the September 1993 hospital-property grant?
A: This May opinion said no under the original amendment, but the later official opinion superseded it after a retroactive 1994 act and allowed the 1993–94 grant.

Q: Could the state recompute that grant to include chronic disease hospitals?
A: No. The recomputation language dealt with reevaluating property submitted for a grant, not adding a category that was ineligible at the assessment date.

Q: What property did the amendment add?
A: It added tax-exempt real property owned by free-standing chronic disease hospitals, apart from government-operated facilities, to the types potentially qualifying for a municipal grant.

Background and statutory framework

Section 9 of 1993 Conn.Pub. Acts No. 93-388 amended Conn.Gen.Stat. § 12-20a, effective July 1, 1993. The grant procedure in Conn.Gen.Stat. § 12-20b used the preceding October’s eligible property and an April municipal submission. The AG applied those dates to the 1993–94 payment.

Citations and references

Statutes: Conn.Gen.Stat. § 12-20a; Conn.Gen.Stat. § 12-20b; 1993 Conn.Pub. Acts No. 93-388.

Source

• Superseding opinion: https://portal.ct.gov/ag/opinions/1994-formal-opinions/susan-shimelman--secretary-office-of-policy-and-management--1994022-formal-opinion-attorney-general
• Landing page: https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Opinions
• Opinion page: https://portal.ct.gov/ag/opinions/1994-formal-opinions/william-j-cibes-jr-office-of-policy--management-1994012-formal-opinion-attorney-general-of-connectic

Original opinion text

William J. Cibes, Jr., Office of Policy & Management, 1994-012 Formal Opinion, Attorney General of Connecticut

Attorney General's Opinion

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal

May 24, 1994

William J. Cibes, Jr.

Secretary

Office of Policy & Management

80 Washington Street

Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Dear Mr. Cibes:

You have asked for our opinion as to whether section 9 of 1993 Conn.Pub. Acts No. 93-388 applies to the payments in lieu of taxes made under Conn.Gen.Stat. § 12-20a for fiscal year 1993-1994 due in September of this year. Based upon our interpretation of the relevant statutes and public act, we advise you that our answer is "no."

Section 9 of 1993 Conn.Pub. Acts No. 93-388 amends Conn.Gen.Stat. § 12-20a by adding real property owned by "free standing chronic disease hospitals," other than such facilities operated by the federal, state, or local government, to the types of tax-exempt real property for which municipalities may be eligible for a state grant in lieu of taxes. This amendment took effect on July 1, 1993. 1993 Conn.Pub. Acts No. 93-388, § 12.

Our response is guided by several principles of statutory construction. Noting that statutory grants in aid to municipalities are in derogation of the common law, we must strictly construe such provisions. See, e.g., Yale University School of Medicine v. Collier, 206 Conn. 31, 36, 536 A.2d 588 (1988). Amendments to statutes effect changes in existing law. Waterbury Petroleum Products, Inc. v. Canaan Oil & Fuel Co., 193 Conn. 208, 232, 477 A.2d 988 (1984). The general rule is that statutory amendments affecting substantive rights are given prospective application only. Id.

Within the foregoing framework, we turn to the statutes on which your question is based. Conn.Gen.Stat. § 12-20b sets forth the procedure for administering a § 12-20a grant. The first step in the process is the municipality's presentation to the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management ("OPM") of the assessed valuation of real property eligible for the grant "as of the immediately preceding October first." This information must be provided by April 1 of the calendar year in which the grant is payable. In your request for this opinion, you state that the properties listed by municipalities on April 1, 1993, "did not include Free Standing Chronic Disease Hospitals."

Tax-exempt real property owned by a free standing chronic disease hospital was not eligible for inclusion in a municipality's request for a grant in lieu of taxes under § 12-20a until July 1, 1993. Conn.Gen.Stat. § 12-20b clearly limits the property which can be considered as eligible for any particular grant, i.e., the property must be eligible under § 12-20a and it must be on the municipality's grand list of the preceding October first. Since grants paid in fiscal year 1993-1994 are based upon municipal submissions to OPM on or before April 1, 1993, and because those submissions are based upon property eligible for a grant on the preceding October first, property owned by a free standing chronic disease hospital cannot be eligible for a § 12-20a grant for fiscal year 1993-1994 since such property was not eligible on October 1, 1992.

You also ask whether the recomputation provision1 of § 12-20b permits the inclusion of property owned by free standing chronic disease hospitals in the September 1993-1994 fiscal year payment. The recomputation referred to in this section applies to two types of recomputations, neither of which apply to the facts which you have presented. First, the Secretary of OPM may reevaluate the property submitted for a grant.2 A revaluation will result in a recomputation of the grant. Second, in the event of an appeal to the Superior Court of the Secretary's reevaluation, the court may sustain, reverse, or modify the Secretary's reevaluation. This would also result in a recomputation of the grant. Only the second type of recomputation occurs after the January first which follows the date on which the municipality provided its assessed valuation to OPM; any such adjustments in the grant due the municipality are to be paid the following September along with any grant for the current year.

As stated above, no grants for fiscal years 1993-1994 and earlier may be based on tax-exempt real property owned by a free standing chronic disease hospital. Therefore the recomputation provisions of § 12-20b cannot apply to grants made for those years.

We trust this answers your questions.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL

ATTORNEY GENERAL

William J. Prensky

Assistant Attorney General

RB/WJP/bjg

1 This provision, which is the last sentence of Conn.Gen.Stat. § 12-20b, states:

If any recomputation is effected as the result of the provisions of this section on or after the January first following the date on which the municipality has provided the assessed valuation in question, any adjustments to the amount due to any municipality for the period for which such adjustments were made shall be made in the next payment the treasurer shall make to such municipality pursuant to this section.
2 Section 12-20b states, "Said secretary may, on or before the first day of September of the state fiscal year in which such grant is payable, reevaluate any such property when, in his judgment, the valuation is inaccurate and shall notify such municipality of such reevaluation."