Public Utilities or On-site Systems?

P.T. Barnum was the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1857, the year the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company got its corporate charter. I worked in the legal department there in the ‘90s and was on the lawyer on the renaming committee that changed the name to the Aquarion Water Company. P.T. Barnum served on the board and really wanted a successful water company, though it wasn’t the water that came out of his faucet that he most wanted.

He was more interested in the water that came out of the fire hydrants in front of his house. Fires were common then, as people at night walked around with Molotov cocktails, though they called them oil lamps. If a grand wooden house caught fire, there often wasn’t enough water flow to put out the fire. It was only enough to keep the fire from burning the adjacent houses.

But why am I talking about 1857 water companies? Because many of today’s buyers really prefer a house with town water and gas and sewer. The majority of Greenwich does not have all three utilities. In fact, if you want a property that is bigger than 1 acre, there is a good chance that you can’t find a property on the market right now with all three public utilities.

Inventory takes a big jump up in September

The good news is that you do have more choices than we had just two weeks ago. At the end of August, we had only 75 listings, an all-time low for that month. Since Labor Day, inventory has jumped. In the last week, we have had 29 new listings. What is really remarkable is that our next highest week this year for new listings was the second week of April, the heart of our spring market. That week, inventory went up by 23 single family home listings.

This week we are up to 118 single family home listings! We even have 6 houses under $1 million, though just barely. The lowest priced listing on the Greenwich MLS is $990,000. Also, there is a very good chance that those houses listed under $1M will sell for more than $1M, as competition in that price range is fierce.

Where can you get all three utilities in Greenwich?

Of those 118 homes, only 48 of them have all three “utilities”; Aquarion water, Eversource natural gas, and Greenwich town sewers. These all utilities listings closely match up with the one acre and smaller zones in the southern third of Greenwich.

Interestingly, there are some gaps. Both Deer Park and the Calhoun Associations have their own private sewer system as did Milbrook originally. Also, many of the larger, and older, houses on the west side of town still have their original wells. We also have surprising areas like Hendrie Drive where Greenwich High School is located and Brookridge Drive that don’t have town sewers for much of their length.

Houses sold from 2023 to 2026 with all three public utilities

In most parts of town, the no utility area and the all utilities areas don’t touch each other. In the gap, most of the houses have water and gas and usually both. Aquarion water extends to near the Merritt Parkway on the western half of the town. Conversely, Eversource natural gas pipelines extend to near the Merritt on the east side of town.

Town sewers have the least coverage in Greenwich. In fact, it is hard to find an area that is in the sewer benefit area that is not served by both gas and water pipelines. One of the principal reasons that we have the two and four-acres zones in mid-country and backcountry is so that there will be enough land to put in a primary septic field and when that fails in 50 years to put in new field in the reserve septic area.

Houses sold from 2023 – 2026 that do not have any of the three public utilities

Higher taxes vs. higher maintenance costs

So, what happens if you are not in the sewer benefit area? The good thing is that you pay less taxes. As of July 1 of this year, the new mill rates went into effect. For the sewer benefit area, the new mill rate is 10.484. For the majority of the area of the town, though not for a majority of the population, the mill rate is 10.125.

So, what is that per million dollars of market value? Start with $1,000,000 and multiple by the 70% assessment ratio dictated by the state. Take the $700,000 assessed value and multiple that by 10.484 mills. (The easy way to remember that is to move the decimal three places so you get .010484 or 1.0484%.) This makes the taxes $7,339 if you are in the sewer benefit area.

For those million dollar homeowners that don’t have access to a sewer, you multiple the same $700,000 by 1.0125% and get only $7,089 per million or a savings of $250/million. If you have the town 2026 average sales price of $4.57 million, you save $1,142 per year in taxes.

Sales don’t change your assessment

Our townwide average for home sales this year is up to $4.57 million, because we have so little to sell under $1.5 million. (Our median sales price is $3.70 million, but the tax savings is more dramatic at $4.57 million). Also, for those buyers from New York State, your assessed value does not go up when you buy a house in Connecticut. Assessed values are only changed every five years in Connecticut. The next Greenwich reassessment date is October 1, 2030 for the tax year beginning July 1, 2031.

Utilities vs Your Own Equipment

I live in backcountry with a well, oil heat and septic fields. Not only do I save on 3.6% on my property taxes, but my water is free. I do have to pay more for fuel oil this year, since it’s essentially the same as diesel fuel, which is at an all time high. Eventually it will come down.

I hear all my friends in Old Greenwich, where I grew up saying, but what about maintaining all that equipment. Yes, I do have to have my septic tank pumped once a year. (There are only two us, and neither are under 18, so we don’t use a lot of water.) Eight years ago, I replaced a 50-year-old well pump, and last year I replaced a 45-year-old water tank. We also replaced the fuel tank in the basement two years. It was 25 years old.

Yes, you do have to pay to fix these things yourself, but it’s usually multiple decades between problems. I likely won’t have to pay to replace any of this new stuff, as I’ll be long gone. by the time it needs replacing.

If, however, you are not familiar with these systems, or didn’t grow up with them. It can seem daunting, but about half of our sales are missing some or all of these services, and they seem to live pretty well as they are some of the most expensive houses in town.

Mark Pruner is a real estate agent with Compass Connecticut. He is part of the Greenwich Streets Team with Russ Pruner, Dena Zarra, Tim Agro, and Felipe Dutra. Mark can be reached at 203-817-2871 or [email protected].