Stockton may spend $7,000 for tax map updates

The state rejected the borough’s tax maps in August.

By: Linda Seida
   STOCKTON — When the Borough Council meets Jan. 31, members could vote to approve the expenditure of $7,000 to update the town’s tax maps in digital form in preparation for a town-wide revaluation ordered by the county.
   Andrew Giannattasio, newly appointed chairman of the Finance Committee, said he hoped the process of digitizing the tax maps could be performed for a lower amount, but $7,000 is the amount the committee will request be set aside in the town’s budget.
   The move from pen and paper to computer-assisted documents is necessary because "over the past 15 years, the businesses of engineering and architecture have moved away from pencil and paper type documents," Mr. Giannattasio said.
   Many businesses and municipalities already are computer assisted in their work.
   "We’re way behind," Mr. Giannattasio said.
   If approved by the council, future updates of tax maps would become more like routine maintenance, and the work would be performed much more easily than it is now.
   Mr. Giannattasio said the town’s maps haven’t been updated for a period of between five and seven years.
   Because the town is so far behind in updating its tax maps, "the engineer’s got quite a bit of homework to do," Mr. Giannattasio said.
   The work would be performed by Hopewell Valley Engineering.
   The revaluation itself will cost the borough about $25,400. The revaluation will be performed by Vital Services Group of Trenton.
   Hunterdon County ordered the revaluation in 2003.
   The state rejected Stockton’s tax maps in August, forcing the borough to update.