Tax map update cost hiked without OK

Stockton officials are at a loss over how the original price of $8,500 went up.

By: Linda Seida
   STOCKTON — The cost of updating the borough’s tax maps will be more than the originally budgeted $8,500, but no one agrees how much more.
   A proposed ordinance for emergency appropriations introduced Monday says the figure has doubled to $17,000.
   Further increasing officials’ consternation is the fact the increase was not first approved by a council vote.
   But no one could say for sure if the $8,500 increase is the amount actually needed.
   Engineer Dennis O’Neal said the figure could be correct because of additional research required by the state of his firm, Hopewell Valley Engineering, before the state will approve the maps.
   "The state had a number of questions," he said.
   The work to update the maps is completed but now must be paid for.
   But attorney John Bennett asked, "How did you spend that money without taking a vote to authorize it?"
   The council had no answer. Further investigation is required to nail down the actual amount of the increase before a public hearing scheduled for Dec. 19.
   Councilman Neal Esposito said, "We should have been advised of the increase before the work was done."
   The maps are still in the state’s hands, awaiting approval. The maps had to be updated before Stockton can begin its county ordered revaluation to bring all property assessments up to market value. The maps hadn’t been updated in about 10 years, Mr. O’Neal said.
   Councilman Michael Hagerty heads the committee in charge of the revaluation. He said he believed the increase was much lower.
   "It appears we’re $1,500 over the $8,500 cost," he said. "That was my understanding."
   Mayor Gregg Rackin said the uncertainty was an example of the breakdown in communication and procedure between the borough’s chief financial officer and the council.
   He told the council, "You’re not to be authorizing expenses" after the fact.
   The mayor added, "I will ask the finance chair and (chief financial officer) Elaine (Vanselous) to be accountable."
   Councilman Andrew Giannattasio, the Finance Committee chairman, responded, "Whoa, I think you’re huffing and puffing over things still under discussion."
   Mr. Giannattasio later said, "We don’t have all the information we need to have."
   Mr. Bennett was upset, he said, because any expense related to the town’s revaluation, including the digitized tax maps, could have been amortized over five years as the initial $8,500 outlay was; now, the additional expenditure may not be.
   The borough also may amortize the $27,000 cost for the revaluation itself.
   "We could have paid the entire thing out at one-fifth per year," Mr. Bennett said.