C-101 Glossary · reference

Know Your Terms.

The words on your tax bill, in plain English.

46 terms, from mill rate to lien waiver. Every one of these shows up linked, in context, wherever it's used elsewhere on the site.

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A B C D E F G H I L M N P R S T V W Z

Allowance #: A placeholder budget line for a selection not yet made, such as fixtures or flooring, built into a fixed-price contract. Going over it is the most common change order.
As-built drawings #: Final drawings updated to reflect what was actually built, not just what was planned. Often required to close out a permit.
Assessed value #: Seventy percent of fair market value, fixed by state statute. Every Connecticut tax figure starts here.
Assessor #: The town official who sets assessed value. Revalues the whole town at least every five years, and revalues your house specifically once you finish building.
Building envelope #: The physical separation between inside and outside: walls, roof, windows, foundation. Where most energy performance is won or lost.
Capital improvement #: Work that adds new, permanent value rather than preserving what was already there. Additions, finished basements, and added bathrooms qualify. Assessors reassess for capital improvements but generally not for maintenance, which is why repainting does not raise your bill and moving plumbing might.
Certificate of Occupancy #: The building department's sign-off that a structure is safe to occupy. Also the starting gun for reassessment. See Revaluation.
Change order #: A formal, priced amendment to a construction contract after work has already begun. The single biggest source of budget creep.
Circuit Breaker #: State relief for elderly and disabled homeowners on fixed incomes, administered locally. Worth asking your assessor about.
Contingency #: Money set aside above the contractor's quote for the unknowns that surface once walls open up. Budget 10–20% and expect to use it.
Cost-plus contract #: A contract where you pay actual cost plus a fee, rather than one fixed number. Flexible, but the budget risk sits with you, not the builder.
Draw schedule #: The payment schedule tied to construction milestones, rather than a lump sum. Protects both sides if it's tied to inspected progress.
Easement #: A legal right for someone else, such as a utility or a neighbor, to use part of your land for a specific purpose. Shows up on a title search, not always on a plot plan.
Elevation #: A drawing showing a building from one side, straight on, with no perspective distortion. Used to check height and roofline against zoning.
Encroachment #: When a structure crosses a property line or a setback it isn't allowed to cross. Caught at zoning review, or worse, at a survey after the fact.
Fair market value #: What a willing buyer would pay a willing seller. Connecticut assesses at 70% of this figure, not the full amount.
Fiscal year #: July 1 to June 30 in Connecticut. “FY 2025–26” means the year that began July 1, 2025.
Fixed-price contract #: A contract for one agreed number regardless of the contractor's actual cost. Predictable for you, and the reason allowances exist for the parts not yet decided.
Floor area ratio (FAR) #: Total building floor area divided by lot size. Some towns cap this directly instead of, or in addition to, height and setback rules.
Footprint #: The ground-level area a building covers, seen from above. An addition can add square footage without changing the footprint if it's a second story.
Grading permit #: Separate approval for moving earth: cutting, filling, changing drainage. Often required before a building permit on sloped or wetland-adjacent lots.
Grand levy #: The total revenue a town needs to raise from property tax, set by the adopted budget. Grand levy ÷ grand list = mill rate.
Grand list #: The total assessed value of everything taxable in town as of October 1: real estate, personal property, and motor vehicles.
Gross living area #: Finished, heated square footage above grade. What appraisers use to compare homes, not the same number a contractor quotes from.
Homestead exemption #: A reduction in taxable value some states offer owner-occupants. Connecticut does not have a general homestead exemption. Relief here runs through programs like Circuit Breaker instead.
Impervious surface #: Any surface water can't soak through: roof, driveway, patio. Many CT towns cap the percentage of a lot that can be impervious.
Lien waiver #: A signed statement from a contractor or supplier giving up the right to place a lien on your property for work already paid. Collect one with every payment.
Maintenance #: Work that preserves existing value instead of adding to it: repainting, replacing a worn roof with similar materials, swapping an aging furnace. Normally not reassessed, and often not permitted, which is the practical reason it stays off the assessor's radar.
Mill #: One dollar of tax per thousand dollars of assessed value. One tenth of one percent.
Mill rate #: The rate a town applies to assessed value, set annually by the Board of Finance or Town Council. Connecticut's run from under 11 to nearly 69.
Motor vehicle cap #: State law caps the rate applied to cars at 32.46 mills, even where a town's property rate is higher.
Nonconforming use #: A property that doesn't meet current zoning but was legal when built, and is allowed to continue. Renovating it can sometimes force it into compliance.
Plot plan #: A simple site drawing showing the building, the property lines, and the setbacks. Usually the first document a building department asks for.
Punch list #: The list of small, unfinished items identified at a walkthrough near the end of a project, before final payment.
Revaluation #: Town-wide reassessment, required at least every five years, to pull assessed values back toward market. Your own project triggers a smaller, targeted version of this.
Site plan #: A more detailed version of a plot plan, adding grading, drainage, utilities and landscaping. Typically required for larger projects or new builds.
Soft costs #: Everything that isn't the swing of a hammer: design, permits, financing, insurance. Usually a third of total project cost, and the part people forget to budget.
Spec home #: A house built speculatively, before a buyer is under contract, to a builder's own choices rather than a client's.
Special taxing district #: A fire or service district with authority to levy on top of the town rate. Common in parts of Fairfield, New Haven, and Windham counties, and not included in this site's figures.
Structural engineer #: The professional who certifies that framing, foundations, and load paths actually hold up the building. Required on most additions and all new construction.
Sweat equity #: Value added to a project through your own labor instead of paid labor. Real, but rarely recognized by an assessor or a lender the way cash cost is.
Turnkey #: Ready to move in with nothing left to finish or decide. The opposite of a shell or an unfinished space.
Value added #: What the assessor decides your project added to the house, for tax purposes. Almost never equal to what you spent building it.
Variance #: Permission to deviate from a zoning rule, such as a setback or a height limit, granted case by case by a zoning board, not guaranteed.
Wetlands setback #: A required buffer distance from a designated wetland, regulated separately from ordinary zoning setbacks and often stricter.
Zoning setback #: The minimum required distance between a structure and the property line. Checked before a building permit is issued, and varies by zone and town.

Missing something? The CT Office of Policy and Management publishes source definitions and the annual rate tables.