The deadline has been extended from April 1 to May 1
By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
LAMBERTVILLE — Maybe you took a look at the property tax bill that landed in your mailbox a few months ago and figured the tax assessor was off his rocker.
With the economy tanking, and home values falling practically everywhere, your bill can’t be that high.
Actually, it can, according to the Hunterdon County Board of Taxation.
Homeowners who don’t believe it will have an extra month to file an appeal. The deadline has been extended from April 1 to May 1.
Interest in tax appeals is running high.
Al Komjathy of the tax board estimated nearly 100 people who live on Lambert’s Hill in the Orleans development crowded into the Justice Center on South Union Street last week to learn how assessments are performed and how to appeal them.
Another eight homeowners came from other parts of the city for the discussion with Mr. Komjathy, Tax Assessor Rick Carmosino and tax board Administrator Athan Efstathiou. The responsibility to prove the assessment is faulty lies with the property owner, who must make his case in a hearing before the tax board.
”It’s upon the taxpayer to make his case,” Mr. Komjathy said.
Filing an appeal requires the homeowner to fill out a form provided by the tax board, which will ask for information about three house sales comparable to the property being appealed. Upon receiving the completed form, the tax board will schedule a hearing date.
Approximately 600 homeowners filed an appeal last year.
”I’m expecting more than that” this year, Mr. Komjathy said. “We’re getting more than the usual number of appeals with anxiety about the (financial) markets and everything else.”
Approximately 25 percent of the 600 who filed an appeal last year were successful in getting their property assessment reduced, Mr. Komjathy said.
All of the assessments performed in Lambertville for the tax period had to be completed by Oct. 1, 2008. Shortly after that, the economy became more battered, according to Mr. Komjathy.
”As soon as we closed our books (in October 2008), the world as we knew it kind of ended right after that,” Mr. Komjathy said.
Home values in Hunterdon County have remained relatively stable compared to the rest of the country, according to Mr. Komjathy.
”Property values, especially in Hunterdon County, didn’t go down that much,” he said. “Hunterdon County has not been as affected as the rest of the country. It’s not as bad. Property values are pretty good here.”
To determine an assessment for the tax bill, the assessor looked at sales for comparable dwellings in and around Lambertville from October 2007 to October 2008. There were 129 sales in the city during that period.
To obtain an appeal form, call the tax board at 908-788-1173.
To learn more about appeal hearings, visit www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/depts/taxboard/hearings.htm.

