Author Topic: Reassessment  (Read 7694 times)

Offline Editor

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Reassessment
« on: May 23, 2010, 12:00:48 PM »
Towns move to stem tax appeals
Sunday, May 23, 2010
BY MERRY FIRSCHEIN
The Record
STAFF WRITER

Towns losing thousands of dollars in successful tax appeals during this depressed real estate market are increasingly turning to a sure-fire way to bring assessments back in line with market rates and prevent more appeals: reassessment.

The real estate market was white-hot in 2006 and 2007, when many towns conducted revaluations. Many property owners saw their values soar, but taxpayers statewide are now appealing those assessments, saying the values are unrealistic in today’s tough economic climate, officials said.

Municipalities are paying millions to property owners who successfully challenge their property taxes, digging deep into their budget reserves. A reassessment will help stem the flood of tax appeals, while making sure all are paying their fair share.

Edgewater and Hackensack conducted revaluations in 2007. But as the real estate market has crumbled, the balance between assessment and market value has shifted: Edgewater assessments average 113 percent above actual value, and Hackensack properties average 115 percent, officials in both towns said.

Last week, the Hackensack City Council gave the reassessment process a green light. Edgewater officials are still discussing the option.

Closter, which conducted a revaluation in 2005, reassessed property values in late 2008, when some properties were being taxed at 115 percent to 120 percent above market value, Tax Assessor Angela Mattiace said.

"It wasn’t so much that we were losing tax appeals," Mattiace said.

Instead, borough officials were more concerned about the future and could not be sure "what the state of the market would be for 2009 and the fact that some residents would be overassessed," she said.

Appraisers primarily visit new construction during a reassessment and revisit data gathered during the prior revaluation, said Rick Del Guercio, president of Appraisal Systems Inc. of Glen Rock.

Del Guercio, whose firm has been hired to conduct Hackensack’s reassessment, recently spoke with Edgewater borough officials.

"The objective data in Edgewater is sound," Del Guercio said. "The problem is the subjective analysis [is] based on sales from 2007 … you really can’t compare that to sales today."

Drain on budget

With about 600 tax appeals pending and millions paid in successful appeals, Hackensack officials want to plug the drain on the city’s budget.

The city recently received permission from Trenton to bond for the more than $4 million owed in tax-appeal refunds, City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono said.

"We can’t handle [the payments] without decimating city operations," he said.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to perform a reassessment by Oct. 1, Lo Iacono said. New valuations would be included in 2011 tax bills, he said.

The 2007 revaluation was conducted at "the very, very peak of the market," he said. "Almost immediately, the values fell out of the market."

Edgewater officials also are sounding the alarm.

Tax Assessor Art Carlson said he told Borough Administrator Greg Franz that "we can’t keep our head in the sand, we have to do something" to stanch the flow of appeals.

About 500 borough property owners have filed tax appeals since 2009, Carlson said. During that span, Edgewater has paid $492,000 in refunds and has spent more than $36,000 in professional fees, Franz said.

The borough has lost more than $47 million in net value as a result of the appeals, Carlson said.

While a person’s tax bill total is split among town, school and county budgets, tax-appeal refunds come solely out of municipal coffers, Del Guercio said.

William Dressel, executive director of the League of Municipalities, said successful tax appeals are yet another way towns are getting hit in the pocketbook.

"Losing traditional state aid and an unprecedented number of foreclosures, people who legitimately realize their value of their homes are falling, both on residential and properties from the private sector … contest their revaluation, and that does have an impact on the amount of dollars the municipalities can collect."

E-mail: firschein@northjersey.com



Offline just watching

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Re: Reassessment
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2010, 03:40:30 PM »
Smart move.  It could be MANY YEARS before housing values rebound to the peak of the market in mid-2005.  I think the market values were flat until 2007, then went downhill right after the reassessment.   This helps remove uncertainty from the city budget, and removes a politically thorny issue that could really bite the Mayor & Council come the next city election.

The current administration needs to legitimately broaden and deepen it's support within the Black and Latino communities, both of which have proven to be vulnerable to calls for "change" from the (white) political opposition leaders.  One thing that hasn't "changed" among the opposition is that it is the same stale old group of wanna-bees that has been organized for at least the last 20 years.

Offline Whitey

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Re: Reassessment
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2016, 08:58:27 AM »
The Hackensack reassessment has been completed and the letters have been sent out.  A complete list of the 2015 and 2016 assessed values can be found at:

http://www.asinj.com/revaluation/docs/assessmentlists/332/Residential%20Assessments.pdf

Offline just watching

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Re: Reassessment
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2016, 09:11:13 AM »
please post the commercial reassessments.

Offline Whitey

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Re: Reassessment
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2016, 11:24:09 AM »
Sorry.  I only stumbled on the list when searching asinj.com.  I don't know where the commercial assessments are listed.

 

anything