MATAWAN — Borough residents received notification cards, courtesy of the county, informing them of the deadline for tax appeals, but the language seemed to have confused many residents.
“The card read that the deadline for tax appeals is May 1 but in actuality it is April 1,” said Councilman Joseph “Buddy” Mullaney at the March 18 Borough Council meeting.
Borough Attorney Pasquale Menna, of Menna, Supko and Nelson, Shrewsbury, explained that six municipalities in Monmouth County are eligible for the May 1 deadline, but Matawan Borough is not one of them.
“The cards are generated by the county Board of Taxation,” Menna said. “Legally, we cannot and don’t send those cards out, even though the return address is Matawan’s. Except for six municipalities in Monmouth County, the deadline is April 1. The May 1 deadline is for towns which experienced a revaluation, last year, Matawan did not.”
Resident Kurtis Roinestad brought the issue to the Borough Council’s attention during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“The language is very misleading,” he said. “Is there anything we can do? Will the county do anything else to clarify this?”
Menna told Roinestad that he already looked in to it and that not much else could be done.
“I cannot tell you to [miss the deadline],” Menna said. “If a property owner is confused and legitimately misses the deadline, the county said they will take each appeal on a case-by-case basis.”
Mullaney suggested the borough implement a bulk mailing notification to advise residents of the correct deadline, but Menna said that would not be in the borough’s best interest.
“Legally, there is no error, and for us to do something like that would imply culpability and there is none,” he told Mullaney and the rest of the council. “The best we can do is prominently display notification here at borough hall and post it on the website. You may also want to ask public information sources such as newspapers to help out.”
For more information regarding tax appeals, contact the Monmouth County Board of Taxation at 732-431-7401 or visit the Monmouth County website at www.visitmonmouth. com.