Malloy vetoes bills on delaying property revaluations, reducing polling places

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy vetoed two more bills sent to him by the Legislature.

Malloy, a Democrat, vetoed both pieces of legislation earlier this week, bringing his total number of vetoes this year to three.

One of the measures, House Bill 5424 would have allowed Norwich, Farmington, Windham, Stamford and New Britain to delay revaluations of property in the town until 2013. Those five are among 38 municipalities required to do revaluations this year under state law. Malloy’s full veto message for that bill is available here.

The other bill, Senate Bill 218, would have allowed registrars to change the number and location of polling places. It also would have allowed judges to remove registrars from office. Malloy’s full veto message for that bill is available here.

Overriding a veto requires a two-thirds vote of both the 151-member House and the 36-member Senate. The date of a veto session for this year has not been set.

In his veto message on the House bill, Malloy said it was unfair to allow only five of the 38 municipalities to delay their valuations. Supporters of the bill had argued that the five have been disproportionately affected by the economic downturn and that doing revaluations this year would hurt municipal finances because home values have fallen.

Malloy disagreed, saying that many places in Connecticut have been affected by the housing downturn. He also said putting off valuations could mean that cities are unfairly distributing the tax burden between residential, commercial and industrial property owners by using outdated values.

Responding to the voting bill, Malloy said voters might become confused or reluctant to cast ballots if their polling places are closed or moved by a town registrar, especially if the change happens after a primary election but before a general election. He also said the measure does not set standards by which judges would be able to remove town registrars and it does not give those registrars a way to appeal if they are relieved of their duties.