MILFORD — Mayor Rich Smith announced he is implementing a five-year phase-in of new property assessments to help residents manage the impact of Milford's recent revaluation, which increased home values by an average of 40 percent.

"I've met too many people in this city that are struggling to make ends meet," Smith said in a video message posted Monday. "They may have paid off their homes 20 years ago and now they're struggling to pay their property taxes."

The revaluation notices were sent out before Smith took office. Without any intervention, the increased property values alone would raise taxes by approximately 8 percent — before any budget increases are factored in.

Smith said the phase-in will spread the assessment increases over five years rather than hitting homeowners all at once.

Under the phase-in, a home that was assessed at $400,000 and jumped 40 percent to $560,000 would only be taxed on a value of $432,000 in the first year, rather than the full $560,000.

"After weeks of cost and impact modeling, I chose to bring forward a request to phase in the new assessments over the next five years," Smith said. "This, to soften the impact of this significant value increase."

Smith explained that revaluations shift the tax burden from commercial properties to residential properties, compounding the impact on homeowners. He noted that last year's budget increased taxes by 1.6 percent, but had the revaluation been applied, the effective increase would have been 9.41 percent.

"Some think it's as simple as we just lower the mill rate enough to offset the increase in value," Smith said. "The problem is revaluation shifts tax burden from the commercial sector to the residential sector."

The mayor, who campaigned on lowering taxes, said he has made his concerns about Connecticut's reliance on property taxes clear to Governor Ned Lamont and the state's legislative delegation.

"Property taxes are regressive and we here in Connecticut must find a better way to raise revenue," Smith said. "But any changes won't be here in time to fix this year's challenges."

Smith said his administration will continue seeking new revenue sources and cost efficiencies to offset ongoing budget pressures.

"I pledge to keep taxes low and provide transparency," Smith said. "It's my belief that the people of Milford are informed, included, respected, and know that we are working tirelessly to make Milford better every day."