By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Township CFO/Tax Collector Nancy Haberle has some answers to one resident’s complaint he didn’t understand why his property taxes appeared to be soaring in the next tax year.
David Brook said at the Township Committee meeting June 28 that he had received his estimated tax bill for 2011-12 and didn’t understand why it appeared he would be paying about 20 percent or about $1,700 more in taxes on his 1-acre property on Winding Way.
Ms. Haberle had several suggestions.
First, remember the bill is based on an estimated tax rate, she said. Mr. Brook himself noted his tax assessment had increased with the township-wide revaluation that took effect this year. He had appealed his assessment and was awaiting word from the county tax board.
Second, an owner cannot compare the estimated quarterly tax bill due in August with the last quarter paid in May, she said. If a property owner was eligible for a state homestead rebate, this year for the first time that rebate was applied as a credit to reduce taxes. That deduction was applied to the May bills. That would mean the “bottom line” on the tax due in that quarter was reduced by the amount of the rebate.
In past years, a separate check for the rebate was sent to qualifying property owner.
But, mostly, Ms. Haberle reminded homeowners the third and fourth quarters of a tax bill are generally always higher than the payments due in February and May, she said. The first and second quarters are calculated by taking 25 percent of the previous year’s tax bill, she said.
When the county, township and school budgets are all finalized, the tax rate is certified by the county tax board. The difference between the amounts billed in February and May and the final bill are made up in with the August and November payments.
Her advice to compare tax impacts.
Take the estimated tax rate of $2.195 and multiply it by your new assessed property value. Compare that amount to the amount you were billed in 2010, and you will know how much your taxes were increased or decreased.
Subtract what you paid in the first two quarters of 2011 and split the remaining difference for the approximate final two payments of the year.
Using those principles, she said she calculated Mr. Brook might be paying about $885 in higher property taxes this year, about one half of his projection. And that’s before any determination on a tax appeal, she said.
In Mr. Brook’s case, he was ineligible for a homestead rebate, he said Monday. But he had learned his appeal to the county tax board had resulted in a $58,775 reduced assessment. The value on the land stayed the same with the entire reduction coming from a lower figure on improvements on the four-bedroom, one and one-half bath house. His total assessment was reduced to $297,325 from the $356,100 figure he had received from the revaluation firm and township.
At $2.195 per $100 value, the revised assessment appeared to reduce his tax liability by nearly $1,300.
Mr. Brook said on the phone Monday that he particularly wanted the township to make the effort to explain more fully how the tax burden may have shifted in the township “in order to reassure all residents that it has been done fairly and equitably,” he said.
He said he wanted to know what neighborhoods in the township saw an increase in property taxes and wondered if industries and businesses were paying a smaller piece of the overall tax pie with residential properties picking up the difference.
The township, or the company hired by the township, “dropped the ball on communication” to help people understand the process, he said.