Some home values were increased by as much as $400,000, according to the mayor
By: Jake Uitti
MONTGOMERY In the wake of hundreds of complaints by township residents regarding their new tax assessments which increased by as much as $400,000 compared to two years ago, according to Mayor Louise Wilson Tax Assessor Eleanor Blake has asked Somerset County tax officials to allow the township to withdraw from its reassessment.
"It is so clear that a large percent of these assessments are just wrong," said Mayor Wilson. "They are too high."
Mayor Wilson said Ms. Blake has decided to withdraw the application for reassessment for the 2007 tax year. The initial reassessment application was made to Somerset County, so the withdrawal request also goes to the county, the mayor explained.
Mayor Wilson observed that Montgomery’s reassessment was "deeply flawed" because it was based on a formula, which the assessor is required to follow, that used sales data from October 2004 through September 2005 to determine the 2007 market value.
"That may work fine when the real estate market goes nowhere but up," the mayor said, "but it doesn’t work at all in this case, where 2004 and 2005 were arguably the highest value bubble years, and today’s market is soft."
The mayor said she supports Ms. Blake’s decision.
Before the decision was made to withdraw the application for reassessment for the 2007 tax year, there was a question of whether it might be better to use the new assessments while allowing residents to petition Ms. Blake to change assessments individually. This option was considered, the mayor said, because there are some residents who are currently paying more than their fair share in taxes.
Mayor Wilson said Ms. Blake can still make adjustments.
"Those people are not left high and dry," she said. "Those people who think their 2005 and 2006 assessments are higher than the market value of their homes, and can offer strong evidence of that, can petition for a lower assessment."
She added, "I am not happy about perpetuating the inequities that are already evident in the 2005 and 2006 assessments. Some people will continue to pay somewhat less than their fair share of taxes. But the new assessments are just not valid, and trying to fix things piecemeal would be like putting Band-Aids on a gaping chest wound," Mayor Wilson said.
The tax assessment is based on a formula prescribed by the county and state. Mayor Wilson criticized the formula, saying it "yielded a whole lot of appraised values that are so deeply flawed as to be indefensible."
Township Committeeman Mark Caliguire said he would have liked to see the reassessment done right the first time, adding that some questions need to be answered in the near future.
"A lot of questions need to be asked about how (the assessment) was done and what presumptions were made and if there were mistakes made, why were they made and why did we move forward with it," he said Monday.
The tax assessor will send out a letter to all the property taxpayers telling them their 2007 property tax assessments will be the same as they were in 2005 and 2006. In cases where property owners made improvements to their homes, however, Mayor Wilson explained that their homes may still be assessed at a higher value than in 2005 and 2006.
The mayor noted that the formal letter notifying homeowners that the 2005 and 2006 assessments will remain in place cannot be sent to property taxpayers until the Somerset County Tax Board approves the township’s application to withdraw the 2007 assessments.
"We’re not sure how long that will take, and we cannot absolutely assume that the county will approve the request," Mayor Wilson said.
She added that information will be posted on the township’s Web site about what the township is doing and why, and she said residents are welcome to call township officials for more information.
"This is the first time (the tax assessor’s) entire staff is going through this," Mayor Wilson said. "They have been flooded with calls, and I think they’ve handled the situation skillfully. They have some of the toughest jobs in the building."

