Rhode Island 2025 2025 Regular Session

Rhode Island House Bill H5696 Introduced / Bill

Filed 02/26/2025

                     
 
 
 
2025 -- H 5696 
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LC000650 
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S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D 
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025 
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A N   A C T 
RELATING TO TAXATION -- LEVY AND ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL TAXES 
Introduced By: Representatives Perez, Lima, Fellela, Hull, and Hopkins 
Date Introduced: February 26, 2025 
Referred To: House Municipal Government & Housing 
 
 
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: 
SECTION 1. Section 44-5-11.6 of the General Laws in Chapter 44-5 entitled "Levy and 1 
Assessment of Local Taxes" is hereby amended to read as follows: 2 
44-5-11.6. Assessment of valuations — Apportionment of levies. 3 
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of § 44-5-11 [repealed], beginning on December 31, 4 
2000, the assessors in the several towns and cities shall conduct an update as defined in this section 5 
or shall assess all valuations and apportion the levy of all taxes legally ordered under the rules and 6 
regulations, not repugnant to law, as the town meetings and city councils, respectively, shall, from 7 
time to time, prescribe; provided, that the update or valuation is performed in accordance with the 8 
following schedules: 9 
(1)(i) For a transition period, for cities and towns that conducted or implemented a 10 
revaluation as of 1993 or in years later: 11 
  Update Revaluation 12 
Lincoln  2000  2003 13 
South Kingstown 2000  2003 14 
Smithfield 2000  2003 15 
West Warwick 2000  2003 16 
Johnston  2000  2003 17 
Burrillville 2000  2003 18 
North Smithfield 2000  2003 19   
 
 
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Central Falls 2000  2003 1 
North Kingstown 2000  2003 2 
Jamestown 2000  2003 3 
North Providence 2001  2004 4 
Cumberland 2001  2004 5 
Bristol  2004  2001 6 
Charlestown 2001  2004 7 
East Greenwich 2002  2005 8 
Cranston  2002  2005 9 
Barrington 2002  2005 10 
Warwick  2003  2006 11 
Warren  2003  2006 12 
East Providence 2003  2006 13 
(ii) Provided that the reevaluation period for the town of New Shoreham shall be extended 14 
to 2003 and the update for the town of Hopkinton may be extended to 2007 with no additional 15 
reimbursements by the state relating to the delay. 16 
(iii) The implementation date for this schedule is December 31, of the stated year. 17 
(iv) Those cities and towns not listed in this schedule shall continue the revaluation 18 
schedule pursuant to § 44-5-11 [repealed]. 19 
(2)(i) For the post-transition period and in years thereafter: 20 
  Update #1 Update #2 Revaluation 21 
Woonsocket  2002 2005  2008 22 
Pawtucket  2002 2005  2008 23 
Portsmouth  2001 2004  2007 24 
Coventry  2001 2004  2007 25 
Providence  2003 2006  2009 26 
Foster 2002 2005  2008 27 
Middletown  2002 2005  2008 28 
Little Compton 2003 2006  2009 29 
Scituate  2003 2006  2009 30 
Westerly  2003 2006  2009 31 
West Greenwich 2004 2007  2010 32 
Glocester  2004 2007  2010 33 
Richmond  2004 2007  2010 34   
 
 
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Bristol  2004 2007  2010 1 
Tiverton  2005 2008  2011 2 
Newport  2005 2008  2011 3 
New Shoreham 2006 2009  2012 4 
Narragansett 2005 2008  2011 5 
Exeter  2005 2008  2011 6 
Hopkinton  2007 2010  2013 7 
Lincoln  2006 2009  2012 8 
South Kingstown 2006 2009  2012 9 
Smithfield  2006 2009  2012 10 
West Warwick 2006 2009  2012 11 
Johnston  2006 2009  2012 12 
Burrillville  2006 2009  2012 13 
North Smithfield 2006 2009  2012 14 
Central Falls 2006 2009  2012 15 
North Kingstown 2006 2009  2012 16 
Jamestown  2006 2009  2012 17 
North Providence 2007 2010  2013 18 
Cumberland  2007 2010  2013 19 
Charlestown 2007 2010  2013 20 
East Greenwich 2008 2011  2014 21 
Cranston  2008 2011  2014 22 
Barrington  2008 2010  2014 23 
Warwick  2009 2012  2015 24 
Warren  2009 2012  2016 25 
East Providence 2009 2012  2015 26 
(ii) The implementation date for the schedule is December 31 of the stated year. Upon the 27 
completion of the update and revaluation according to this schedule, each city and town shall 28 
conduct a revaluation within nine (9) years of the date of the prior revaluation and shall conduct an 29 
update of real property every three (3) years from the last revaluation. Provided, that for the town 30 
of Bristol, the time for the first statistical update following the 2010 revaluation shall be extended 31 
from 2013 to 2014 and said statistical update shall be based on valuations as of December 31, 2014, 32 
and the first revaluation following the December 31, 2014, and 2015 statistical revaluation shall be 33 
extended from 2016 to 2019 and said revaluation shall be based on valuations as of December 31, 34   
 
 
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2018; and, that for the city of Woonsocket, the time of the first statistical update following the 2017 1 
revaluation shall be extended from 2020 to 2021, and the statistical update shall be based on the 2 
valuations as of December 31, 2021; and, that for the city of Warwick, the time for the second 3 
statistical update following the 2015 revaluation shall be extended from 2021 to 2022 and said 4 
statistical update shall be based on valuations as of December 31, 2022; and, that for the town of 5 
Johnston, the time of the revaluation following the 2012 revaluation shall be extended from 2022 6 
to 2023, and the statistical update shall be based on the valuations as of December 31, 2022; and, 7 
that for the town of West Greenwich, the time for a first statistical update following the 2019 8 
revaluation shall be extended from 2022 to 2023 and said statistical update shall be based on 9 
valuations as of December 31, 2023; and, that for the town of New Shoreham, the full evaluation 10 
nine (9) years following the 2012 revaluation based on the valuations of December 31, 2021, shall 11 
be extended to December 31, 2022, and be based on valuations as of December 31, 2022. Provided 12 
that for the city of East Providence, the revaluation period as of the December 31, 2021, assessment 13 
date shall be extended to the December 31, 2022, assessment date, with no additional 14 
reimbursements by the state relating to the delay. Provided, that for the city of Woonsocket, the 15 
time of the second statistical update following the 2017 revaluation shall be extended from 2023 16 
to 2024, and the statistical update shall be based on the valuations as of December 31, 2024; and 17 
provided, further, that for the city of Woonsocket, the full revaluation nine (9) years following the 18 
2017 revaluation based on the valuations of December 31, 2026, shall be extended to December 19 
31, 2027, and be based on valuations as of December 31, 2027, and the first statistical update shall 20 
be based upon the valuations as of December 31, 2030, and the second statistical update shall be 21 
based upon the valuations as of December 31, 2033. 22 
(iii) Cities and towns shall not change the assessment of any property based on the purchase 23 
price of the property after a transfer occurs except in accordance with a townwide or citywide 24 
revaluation or update schedule; provided that, this prohibition shall not apply to completed new 25 
real estate construction. 26 
(iv) Commencing December 31, 2025, and every December 31 thereafter, all revaluations 27 
performed shall not increase more than twenty percent (20%) from the last previous revaluation 28 
performed in accordance with this section. 29 
(b) No later than February 1, 1998, the director of the department of revenue shall 30 
promulgate rules and regulations consistent with the provisions of this section to define the 31 
requirements for the updates that shall include, but not be limited to: 32 
(1) An analysis of sales; 33 
(2) A rebuilding of land value tables; 34   
 
 
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(3) A rebuilding of cost tables of all improvement items; and 1 
(4) A rebuilding of depreciation schedules. Upon completion of an update, each city or 2 
town shall provide for a hearing and/or appeal process for any aggrieved person to address any 3 
issue that arose during the update. 4 
(c) The costs incurred by the towns and cities for the first update shall be borne by the state 5 
in an amount not to exceed twenty dollars ($20.00) per parcel. The costs incurred by the towns and 6 
cities for the second update shall be borne eighty percent (80%) by the state (in an amount not to 7 
exceed sixteen dollars ($16.00) per parcel) and twenty percent (20%) by the town or city, and in 8 
the third update and thereafter, the state shall pay sixty percent (60%) of the update (not to exceed 9 
twelve dollars ($12.00) per parcel) and the town or city shall pay forty percent (40%); provided, 10 
that for the second update and in all updates thereafter, that the costs incurred by any city or town 11 
that is determined to be a distressed community pursuant to § 45-13-12 shall be borne eighty percent 12 
(80%) by the state and twenty percent (20%) by the city or town for all updates required by this 13 
section. 14 
(d) The office of municipal affairs, after consultation with the League of Cities and Towns 15 
and the Rhode Island Assessors’ Association, shall recommend adjustments to the costs formula 16 
described in subsection (c) of this section based upon existing market conditions. 17 
(e) Any property that is either exempt from the local property tax pursuant to § 44-3-3 or 18 
pays a city or town an amount in lieu of taxes is not required to have its values updated pursuant to 19 
this section and the property is not eligible for the reimbursement provisions of subsection (c) of 20 
this section. However, those properties that are exempt from taxation and are eligible for state 21 
appropriations in lieu of property tax under the provisions of § 45-13-5.1 are eligible for state 22 
reimbursement pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, provided, that these properties were 23 
revalued as part of that city or town’s most recent property revaluation. 24 
(f) No city or town is required to conduct an update pursuant to this section unless the state 25 
has appropriated sufficient funds to cover the state’s costs as identified in subsection (c) of this 26 
section. 27 
(g) Any city or town that fails to conduct an update or revaluation as required by this 28 
section, or requests and receives an extension of the dates specified in this section, shall receive the 29 
same amount of state aid under §§ 45-13-1, 45-13-5.1, and 45-13-12 in the budget year for which 30 
the new values were to apply as the city or town received in state aid in the previous budget year; 31 
provided, however, if the new year’s entitlement is lower than the prior year’s entitlement, the 32 
lower amount applies, except for the town of New Shoreham for the fiscal year 2003. 33 
(h) Any bill or resolution to extend the dates for a city or town to conduct an update or 34   
 
 
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revaluation must be approved by a two-thirds (⅔) majority of both houses of the general assembly. 1 
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. 2 
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EXPLANATION 
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 
OF 
A N   A C T 
RELATING TO TAXATION -- LEVY AND ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL TAXES 
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This act would place a cap of twenty percent (20%) on increases in consecutive 1 
revaluations of real property in all cities and towns conducting revaluations commencing December 2 
31, 2025, and every December 31 thereafter. 3 
This act would take effect upon passage. 4 
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LC000650 
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