ordered by county
Freehold Boro officials reviewing
bids from pair of revaluation firms
Reassessment is
ordered by county
By clare marie celano
Staff Writer
Freehold Borough officials are moving forward and preparing to face something the town hasn’t had to face in more than a decade — a revaluation of borough properties.
Residents of the borough and 10 other municipalities in Mon-mouth County will be facing a revaluation of their properties by order of the county Board of Taxation.
According to Mayor Michael Wilson, a special appropriation for the preparation and execution of a complete revaluation of real property in the borough was approved at a council meeting on Sept. 3.
Wilson said Tax Assessor Mitchell Elias is reviewing two companies who have bid on the project. The mayor said that according to county officials the revaluation process will take about two years.
"I remember the last revaluation in town in 1990," Wilson said. "It was not a pleasant experience. But we’ve kept more up to date with our yearly assessments this time around."
Wilson said the upcoming revaluation would be a bit less stressful than the last one because of that fact.
Elias told the News Transcript that two companies, Appraisal Systems, Mendham, and Realty Appraisers, West New York, are being reviewed by his office. He said a meeting was to take place on Sept. 10 with both companies, after which he will make his recommendations to the mayor and council.
Elias explained that in regard to borough properties, the ratio of assessment to market value is 84 percent. He said the cutoff figure is 85 percent.
"The state does a two-year sampling of sales that have occurred in the borough. The average assessment was 84 percent of what the property actually sold for," the tax assessor said.
The revaluation process is lengthy and involved, but it has begun. A borough tax map has been sent to the state for approval, Elias said, adding that choosing the most responsible bidder to conduct the revaluation is the next step.
Elias said the company that is hired will go to all homes and commercial buildings, examine the interior and measure the exterior of the properties.
"They will use their experience to come up with a current value of the properties. They’ll send a letter to the owner of each individual property with their company’s opinion of it. Each property owner will be able to meet with the company and receive feedback on their property before the figures are certified at the county level," Elias said, adding that the letters to residents will go out in October 2003.
The tax assessor advised that after their property has been evaluated, residents should not wait to see what the tax implications are.
"If you don’t think you can sell your home for the appraised value then you must contact the appraisal company right away," Elias said. "If the meeting with the appraising company brings about a change, that’s great. If not, then you may appeal the amount but the deadline is April 1. Taxes are not a reason for an appeal. The appeal is based on the accuracy of your tax assessment,"
In a recent interview with Monmouth County Tax Assessor Matthew S. Clark, the official said the 10 towns scheduled for revaluation have all fallen well under the allowable assessment to market value ratio of 85 percent, but Clark said there was more to a revaluation than that.
"There’s a lot more rationale than falling below market value," Clark said. "Much more important is the general coefficient of deviation. That represents the spread of uniformity of the assessment base."
In simple terms, a revaluation is ordered because on a local basis some people may be paying too much in property taxes based on an assessment that is too high and some people may not be paying their fair share of property taxes, based on an assessment that is too low relative to the current value of the property.