HILLSBOROUGH: On average, a home’s value rises by $101,000

Revaluation information mailed to property owners

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   By today, residents and business owners should have received a green postcard telling them of the new official value of their property for tax purposes.
   For the “average” home, the figure is probably 40 to 45 percent higher than last year, before a township-wide revaluation was conducted last fall. Comparing “average” figures, the value of a township residence rose just more than $100,000, to $363,575 from last year’s $262,174.
   The dollar figure gives one-half of the equation that will lead to the bottom-line figure of how many tax dollars that people will pay in 2011, starting with the August tax bills.
   The second essential half of the calculation will come after school, local, county and fire budgets are realized. Preliminary budgets will be known in March, and final figures determined by mid-May.
   Preliminary figures submitted last week show that the value of all property — homes, businesses, apartments, industry, vacant land, farms, utilities — in the township increased by more than $1.73 billion and now stands at more than $5.55 billion.
   The figures are the result of the work by the Appraisal Systems revaluation firm, whose workers physically went to every property to note depreciation and improvements and to update tax records.
   More than 1,000 residents took the opportunity over three weeks in January to talk to the firm’s representatives about the data on the property cards, said Tax Assessor Debra Blaney.
   Coming to an accurate assessment is a bit of a science, but is usually described as the price “that a willing buyer will pay a willing seller.”
   To that point, Appraisal Systems hung photos, with price, location and property information of properties that had sold in the last year. People could look for properties within their neighborhood.
   ”I think the process went quite well,” said Township Administrator Mike Merdinger. “People had the right to talk directly to the assessors and they exercised that right.”
   He said he was impressed with the revaluation firm staff, calling them professional, friendly and patient. “Most people feel awkward when they come to talk about such things,” he said. Ms. Blaney said she was pleasantly surprised at the public reaction to the process. “People were happy to be able to come in and speak to someone,” she said.
   Ms. Blaney said a popular misconception is that a revaluation will increase the total amount of revenue to be raised by taxation. That’s not the case, she said. It is really to ensure uniform and equitable assessments through the town.
   Many people wanted to know “what’s the tax rate going to be?” — a question to which the answer cannot be given at this point, said Mr. Merdinger.
   Learning what professionals consider the value of a property could be good news or bad to a taxpayer, Ms. Blaney said.
   ”A lot of people don’t pay attention (to the market) and don’t realize what their property is worth until they are ready to sell,” said Ms. Blaney. “About 90 percent of the people I met with agreed the new assessed value did reflect the true market value.”
   Anyone who disagrees with their assessment has the right to file an appeal with the county tax board. This year, the deadline for Hillsborough residents is May 1. Owners pay a small filing fee and must provide examples of sales of comparable properties that buttress their case.
   Ms. Blaney said she encouraged people to come to her office and hear her explain how their assessment was derived. “A lot of people are under the misconception they are appealing their tax dollars and that is not the case,” she said.
   Somerset County’s Board of Taxation ordered Hillsborough to undergo a revaluation after assessments fell to about 60 percent of what the true real estate market was seeing. The last township revaluation was in 1982, said Ms. Blaney, although in-house updates called reassessments from 1995 to 2003 helped keep records mostly up to date.
   The cost of the revaluation is $850,000, which is being paid off over five years. The bulk (about $800,000) is the contract with Appraisal Systems.