HILLSBOROUGH: High tax bill shocks Winding Way resident

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
    David Brook opened his estimated property tax bill recently and was scared.
    He saw an increase of 20.3% on what he says is a modest nearly 50-year-old split-level house on Winding Way. That’s a $1,700 increase on his approximately $7,000 tax bill, if it holds, he said.
    He came Tuesday night to the Township Committee to ask for an explanation, not just in his situation, but for the whole township, he said.
    The issue is complicated because of the township-wide professional revaluation that goes into effect for the next year’s taxes. The township saw an increase in the average house value for tax purposes of 40-45 percent, but a revaluation is intended to smooth out tax inequalities that have developed over the years.
    Mr. Brook said it was a matter of fairness and communication to residents to explain in detail what had happened to tax base and rates.
    Mr. Brook said he has been involved in seeking to understand the whole revaluation process, and he has appealed his new $356,100 valuation, a 60 percent increase over the previous year.
    When he presented his case to the county tax board, he was stymied by the slow real estate market that only yielded one sale of a comparable property in his immediate neighborhood.
    His four-bedroom, one and one-half bath house on slightly more than one acre needs work, he said, with fixtures and appliances dating back to the original house built in the early 1960s.
    His tax bill was only an estimate, he conceded, and could go up or down, especially depending on the outcome of his tax appeal. A final tax bill would also show him which constituent part of his bill (schools, local or county government, library) showed an increase or decrease.
    He surveyed his neighbors informally and they all told him their taxes went up, he said.He asked the committee for an analysis, not only for him but for the community. If he was paying more, who was paying less? He asked. What neighborhoods, or type of ratable?
    Mayor Gloria McCauley urged him to talk to Tax Assessor Debra Blaney, since all properties are different.