Property Tax in Stonington Borough, CT: Two Tax Bills, Not One
Property tax on a home in Stonington Borough is not one number -- it is two, and conflating them will give you the wrong answer. The Borough (population 976 as of the 2020 Census, just 0.7 square miles) is a separately incorporated, separately governed historic district sitting inside the much larger Town of Stonington (population 18,335 in 2020, 50.0 square miles). Borough residents pay the Town of Stonington's town-wide tax and a separate Borough tax on top of it, because, in the Borough's own account of its history, its collective needs diverged from the rest of the town. This page states plainly what is confirmed -- the Town's mill rate -- and what is not: a specific Borough tax rate, which could not be confirmed this session and which any buyer needs to get directly from the Borough's own Clerk-Treasurer and Assessor before estimating total carrying cost. Note also that this page covers Stonington Borough only, not the separate village of Mystic, which sits elsewhere within the same Town of Stonington and is a different market with its own facts.
A Separately Incorporated Borough Inside a Much Larger Town
Stonington Borough is its own municipal corporation, chartered by special act of the Connecticut General Assembly in May 1801 -- the second borough chartered in Connecticut, one year after Bridgeport (October 1800). Of the 45 Connecticut boroughs chartered between 1800 and 1921, only nine still survive, and because Bridgeport later became a city, Stonington Borough is the oldest continuously operating borough in the state. That charter status is not ceremonial: it is the legal basis for the Borough having its own government, its own regulatory powers, and its own tax, layered on top of -- not instead of -- the Town of Stonington's tax.
This distinction matters for a buyer because two properties a few blocks apart in the Town of Stonington can have meaningfully different tax pictures depending on whether a specific parcel sits inside the Borough's boundaries or outside them. A parcel inside the Borough owes both the Town tax and the Borough tax; a parcel elsewhere in the Town owes only the Town tax. Confirming which side of that line a specific property sits on is a first step, not an afterthought.
Who Governs the Borough, and Why That Matters for Your Tax Bill
The Borough is run by a Board of Warden and Burgesses -- five elected officials (one Warden and four Burgesses) serving two-year terms, meeting on the third Monday of each month at 7pm. The current Warden is Michael Schefers; note that the Borough entry on Wikipedia, as fetched for this research, is out of date and still lists a predecessor, Jeffrey Callahan, so treat Schefers as the current officeholder. The current Burgesses are Amy Nicholas (Senior Burgess), Amanda Barnes, Kevin Rogers, and Kevin Bowdler. Day-to-day administration runs through Lisa Coleman, the Clerk-Treasurer and Assessor, and Jen Farrell, the Business Manager -- Coleman is the specific office to contact for a current Borough tax figure.
Under its charter, the Borough can sue and be sued, own property, levy taxes, lay out highways, create a fire department, and make its own bylaws. It also maintains its own Planning and Zoning Commission and its own zoning regulations, entirely separate from the Town of Stonington's. That combination -- its own elected government, its own zoning authority, and its own taxing power -- is the structural reason a Borough property carries a second tax bill that a non-Borough property in the same Town does not.
The One Confirmed Number: The Town of Stonington's Mill Rate
The figure that is actually confirmed here is the Town of Stonington mill rate: 18.18 mills, applied to both real and personal property and to motor vehicles, per the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities Data Hub -- and that 18.18 figure is confirmed for both FY2025 and FY2026, meaning it held steady across those two fiscal years. A mill rate of 18.18 means $18.18 in tax per $1,000 of assessed value, applied town-wide across the entire 50.0-square-mile Town of Stonington, Borough included.
That number is the baseline every Borough property owner pays, since Borough residents are Town of Stonington residents too. It is not, however, the whole bill for a Borough property -- it is only the first of two tax layers described on this page.
The Second Bill: A Separate Borough Tax, With No Confirmed Rate
This is the part a buyer cannot skip: on top of the Town of Stonington's 18.18-mill tax, Stonington Borough levies its own, separate Borough tax on properties within its boundaries. No specific Borough tax rate, mill figure, or dollar amount was found or could be confirmed during this research session. That is stated here explicitly rather than papered over, because guessing at a number this consequential would be worse than admitting the gap.
In practical terms, the true combined effective property tax rate on a Borough property equals the Town's confirmed 18.18 mills plus an additional, currently unconfirmed Borough-tax component. Anyone evaluating a specific Borough property should contact the Borough's own Clerk-Treasurer and Assessor, Lisa Coleman, directly for the current Borough tax rate and how it applies to that parcel's assessment, before doing any math on total annual carrying cost.
What Each Tax Layer Actually Pays For
The two taxes are not redundant -- they fund different things, which is the whole reason the dual structure exists. The Town of Stonington's tax funds town-wide services shared across the full 50.0-square-mile town, education chief among them.
The Borough's own tax funds local-only services that the Town does not provide at the Borough's level of detail: the Borough's own zoning and regulatory apparatus (its Planning and Zoning Commission and bylaws), local infrastructure, and other services specific to the historic 0.7-square-mile district. The Borough's own account of its history frames the arrangement plainly -- the dual tax exists because the Borough's collective needs diverged from the rest of the town, and the Borough chose, under its 1801 charter, to fund those needs itself rather than rely solely on the Town.
Town-Wide Fiscal Context (Not Borough-Specific)
The following figures describe the Town of Stonington as a whole, not the Borough specifically -- they are useful for understanding the tax base and market the Borough sits inside, but they should not be read as Borough numbers. Per the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities Data Hub: Town-wide population is 18,431; 2023 median household income is $108,922; 2023 median home value is $450,100; the Total Net Grand List for 2025 is $4,081,337,444; and the Equalized Net Grand List for 2022 is $6,030,070,394.
Older, dated figures from the 2000 Census, town-wide (not current, and clearly not Borough-specific): median household income of $52,437, per capita income of $29,653, and roughly 5% of the town-wide population below the poverty line at that time. Those 2000-era numbers are included only for historical context and should not be mistaken for anything close to current.
Borough-Specific Demographics, For Context Only
Separate from the town-wide fiscal figures above, the Borough itself is tracked as its own census-designated place. Its population was 976 in the 2020 Census, up from 929 in 2010, and down from 1,032 in 2000. Per the 2000 Census specifically, the Borough had a median age of 48, a population density of 3,071.2 people per square mile, and was 96.90% White.
No Borough-specific median household income or median home value figure, beyond that dated 2000-era median age, was found or could be confirmed this session. Treat the town-wide income and home value figures above as context for the surrounding market, not as a stand-in for Borough-specific numbers.
Before You Rely on Any Number Here
Every specific figure on this page needs to be reverified directly before it factors into a purchase decision. Reconfirm the Town of Stonington's 18.18-mill rate with the Town Assessor's office for the current fiscal year at the time you are reading this. Get the actual, current Borough tax rate or dollar figure -- which this page could not confirm -- directly from the Borough's own Clerk-Treasurer and Assessor, Lisa Coleman. And before making any purchase or budgeting decision based on combined Town-plus-Borough carrying costs, talk to a Connecticut-licensed tax professional or real estate attorney who can pull the actual current bill for the specific parcel in question.
This page is independent research, not tax, legal, or financial advice, and it should not be treated as a substitute for parcel-specific figures from the Town and Borough themselves or for guidance from a qualified Connecticut professional.
Ready to talk to a local Stonington Borough agent?
Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data sourced from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) Data Hub (Town of Stonington mill rate of 18.18 for both FY2025 and FY2026; town-wide population, income, home value, and Grand List figures), Wikipedia's own Stonington Borough, CT entry (charter history, governance structure, 2020/2010/2000 Census figures, 2000 Census demographic detail), and the Borough's own published account of its governance and current officials (Warden Michael Schefers; Burgesses Amy Nicholas, Amanda Barnes, Kevin Rogers, and Kevin Bowdler; Clerk-Treasurer and Assessor Lisa Coleman; Business Manager Jen Farrell) -- noting explicitly that the Wikipedia article, as fetched, was out of date on the current Warden and listed a predecessor, Jeffrey Callahan, in error. No specific Borough tax rate, mill figure, or dollar amount was found or could be confirmed this session, and none is invented here; that gap is disclosed rather than estimated. Older 2000 Census town-wide income and poverty figures are labeled as dated and are not current. Before relying on any figure in a purchase decision, reconfirm the Town's current mill rate with the Town of Stonington Assessor's office, get the current Borough tax rate directly from the Borough's own Clerk-Treasurer and Assessor, Lisa Coleman, and consult a Connecticut-licensed tax professional.