PRINCETON: Tax group: One more chance before suit

By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
   Every person in attendance at Thursday night’s Princeton Fair Tax meeting voted with a resounding “yes” when asked if the group should proceed with a lawsuit.
   ”It goes back to the land value assessment; that very factor of how it was calculated,” said Toby Israel of Walnut Lane. “The land values of people living in multi-acre properties wasn’t calculated with the same ratio as those of us living in smaller acre properties. That to me is a very key issue because, in fact, there is a tragic flaw and if you figure the calculation from the beginning on that basis it means that the people in the higher-price homes get a tax break that the rest of us don’t get.”
   The site value is one component of an assessment, along with the size of the home, size of the lot and other factors.
   ”To me it’s a matter of social justice,” she stated. “We should continue so people understand there is an issue that needs to be addressed.”
   ”People down the street from me in very exclusive housing on Governor’s Lane are paying less, so basically people who are earning 10, 15, 100 times more than my income, I’m paying their taxes,” said Jere Tannenbaum, township resident. “I don’t mind if I have to pay more taxes for my town because I love living here; I resent that I have to pay the taxes of people who are much more wealthy than I am.”
   But, they aren’t heading to court just yet. Their attorney, Bill Potter, is giving municipal officials one more chance before filing paperwork.
   According to a letter from Mr. Potter that was read at the meeting, the group has a good case, but he recommended giving the governing bodies a last chance to avoid a lawsuit.
   The borough is trying to avoid a lawsuit, with Councilman David Goldfarb suggesting the borough check with the assessment company, Appraisal Systems Inc., to see if there are any documents that were not handed over to the municipalities. They also plan to ask if there are papers the company has that were not required to be handed over as part of their contract.
   Princeton Fair Tax is still trying to ascertain how ASI calculated the site values for the various neighborhoods.
   ”They haven’t told us what they did,” said Dale Meade, co-founder of the group.
   It has collected between $8,000 and $10,000 for the lawsuit.
   Of the people in the room, it was split almost equally between people who had their assessment go down, go up or stayed the same.
   Jim Firestone, Princeton Fair Tax’s co-leader, fired back to Township Mayor Chad Goerner, who alleged Princeton Fair Tax never gave them data at a committee meeting earlier this month. The two men had loud words over who did or did not give documents to whom.
   But the tax group has offered its assistance to other municipal groups.
   Jim Floyd, a co-founder of Princeton Fair Tax, added the group also offered to meet with the members of the municipal Revaluation Commission.
   ”Our intent was to do what is right by our fellow citizens,” he said. “Unfortunately, our efforts were met with a casual indifference. In other words, go away, don’t bother us, we don’t want to hear what you have.”
   ”Unfortunately, we met with the same results in our meeting with elected officials, including the mayors,” added Mr. Floyd, backing up Mr. Firestone’s claim. “They, too, rebuffed us with what I would also term casual indifference or simply go away, don’t bother us.”