This is something that the Township has been fighting against doing, tooth and nail, since the property tax revaluations went through a few a couple of years ago. The only reason why this reassessment is happening is to stop people and businesses in Middletown from filing tax appeal that have cost the town a few million dollars since, no other reason.
So when Middletown's Municipal Attorney Brian Nelson is quoted as saying, "First and foremost, we're doing this out of fairness to taxpayers, but the tax appeal costs were proving to be exponential.", he was only being half honest. The township never does anything out of fairness to the taxpayers, they only do what is first and foremost fair for itself.
So with this reassessment that should be done before March of next year, there will be some winners and losers just as before. Some home and business owners will see their property taxes reduced, while others will see them increase based on their newly reassessed values.
This reassessment will not be the great panacea that people think it will be due to the fact that unless the Township cuts spending significantly next year they will not see a very big decrease in their property taxes. Middletown will still need to raise close to $42M through taxation to balance the FY'11 budget regardless. So instead of the tax rate being 39.85 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, that number may skyrocket upwards over .45 0r .50 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Make no mistake, this reassessment was not ordered out of goodness or fairness towards the average taxpayer in town, it was made in order to put a halt to all the tax appeal judgements that have been and continue to be lost by the town in court which have cost the township $millions.
I, like many others, just hope that the new reassessment of our homes will be low enough to make a difference. The town will be paying for it for a long time, but that is a post for another time.
10 comments:
None of them can be trusted and especially not the legal help !
Come on Mike!
You say that the only reason this was done is because "it's cost the town (read:taxpayers) several million dollars" as if saving the taxpayers several million more dollars is a bad thing.
Haven't you supported things that would save the town much less?
But this revaluation is somehow a bad thing?!?
Really?
I don't see how any taxpayer can say that this revaluation is a mistake. At the very least the resultant decrease in tax appeals will keep taxes lower by saving the township administration from having to pay back the school portion of those appealed tax bills...
Jay,
Don't misunderstand my point. The reassessment will stop the tax appeals which in turn save the township millions of dollars, but it wont help the average homeowner.
Taxes still need to be raised to support the budget, the municipal tax rate will rise as home values are decreased. There will be no real tax relief for the taxpayer.
That was my point.
Anonymous 8:45:
It's a reassessment not a revaluation and it will be revenue neutral because they will have to raise the same amount of money.
The tax rate per hundred will change and let's hope we don't go through the BS they fed us this year trying to cover their lying a**** and with their simpleton act.
What will help is valuations will be in line (should be anyway) with current sales prices so the appeal process should work better with less reason to file appeals because of more current valuations and even that will change as market values fluctuate. There is NO perfect solution or time for a property tax assessment and they better not pull some of the crap they did in the the recent revaluation.
NOBODY will believe them...NOBODY and least of all Matthew Clark of the County of Monmouth Tax Board.
Keep in mind that it was "Matthew Clark of the County of Monmouth Tax Board" that MADE Middletown go through the revaluation in the first place.
It was Monmouth County that made Middletown go through with the revaluation. It was Matthew Clark's job to see that it had gotten done.
You can't place the blame on one individual when so many others were also involved.
A revaluation was long overdue and Middletown was way out of line on the County tax table compared to other towns.
Matthew Clark and the tax board were following state guidelines and directives ...it's Middletown's officials that have no respect for legal requirements and do everything to avoid obeying the rules....
But it seems that you are still missing the larger and more important point: the reassessment will SAVE taxpayers from having to pay even HIGHER taxes.
You see, the dollars the township has to repay to those who win tax appeals require about 65 cents in NEW REVENUE RAISED for each dollar paid back. This is, of course, because neither the school nor county have to pay back tax appeals.
So if $3 million is needed to pay back tax appeals - $2 million (or so) must either be bonded (costing even more) or must be added to the MUNICIPAL "AMOUNT TO BE RAISED BY TAXES."
Who pays for those bonds? Who pays for additional taxes?
The average homeowner.
Tell me again why the reassessment is a bad thing?
Jay,
No one said it was a bad idea to have a reassessment.
What is bad is that people will think that because their properties will be reassessed their taxes will go down and that is not necessarily true.
As one commentor posted, reassessments are designed to be revenue neutral. Just because your property value is adjusted downward doesn't mean that the taxes that will be paid will be less.
Some will still pay more while others pay less.
As stated, what the reassessment will do is stop the tax appeals. It wont make it any fairer for the average tax payer who feels he is paying to much as it is. The same amount of taxes will still need to be collected.
The only real long term way lower taxes is to cut spending.
Mike,
Sounds like this "Jay" is already making excuses for the next episode in lies from these characters we call township officials.
Maybe the truth for a change will help the people in this town see this "gang" in a more positive light because right now "darkness rules" and liars lie as far as most of us see things.
Guess who made it that way? THEY DID !
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