But mayor says plan will be reconsidered
By:Roger Alvarado
The Borough Council put off hiring an assessor to determine whether properties damaged by Hurricane Floyd have been sufficiently repaired so that they can now be properly assessed.
In the aftermath of the destruction caused by Hurricane Floyd in 1999, approximately 611 properties in the Claremont and Lost Valley sections of the borough were given as much as 25 percent reductions in value.
Now, the borough tax assessor has asked that they be brought up to current market values, which is why the resolution to hire Assessor Services of Flemington was placed on Monday’s council agenda.
"We have no control over what the assessor does," Mayor Angelo Corradino, who did not attend Monday’s meeting because of illness, said Tuesday. "By state statute we can’t tell them anything. The assessor thought two years ago that those properties should be brought up to their pre-Floyd value."
Mayor Corradino said he will ask council members to once again consider passing the resolution during a special meeting slated for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
"What the resolution did was to hire a number of individuals to go in and do a (revaluation)," he said. "What it does is protect the town and residents from any liabilities. In the case of a tax appeal it provides a record of what was done and what wasn’t in terms of the repair. That way, if there’s an appeal, there’s a record of what was done from a professional evaluation.
"It’s important that these (assessors) are hired," he said. "It gives people protection and protects the town from any liability and makes sure that the assessed value of the home rehabilitation is fair."
If the resolution is passed and the inspections conducted, the increases would likely take effect during the last quarter of this year and will appear on August’s tax bill, Mayor Corradino said.
During Monday’s meeting, Councilwoman Senga Allan said because the borough is going to have to be completely revalued next year, she doesn’t see why it makes sense to pay for just the properties affected by Hurricane Floyd to be revalued now.
"We don’t need somebody to do the same job twice," Ms. Allan said. "This is something that we need to pull back and put back into (the Finance) committee for discussion. This is not fair to the people, I motion to pull."
Tuesday, Mayor Corradino said properties that are examined this year won’t have to be examined again next year, however.
The mayor says that the county and state-mandated revaluation will take place next year.
He also said a revaluation does not necessarily mean that property taxes will skyrocket.
"Right now we’re at 52 percent evaluation," he said. "But that doesn’t mean that everybody’s properties will double."
He said that though some property owners will see an increase, when you take into account the borough and school district will keep their budget costs between $10 million and $14 million respectively, not everyone will be dramatically impacted.
"People have to look at the bright side, we haven’t been paying extra for ‘x’ amount of years and so now we’re going to have to pay our fair share," he said.
The resolution to hire Assessor Services to perform the inspections will once again come before the council during next Wednesday’s special council meeting at 7:30 p.m.

