FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Municipal officials are accepting bids from firms that are seeking to be hired to conduct a reassessment of properties in Freehold Township. The goal of the reassessment will be to relevel the field in terms of the property taxes that property owners pay, according to Township Administrator Peter Valesi.
The reassessment was discussed by Valesi at the April 24 meeting of the Township Committee as the administrator was presenting the 2012 municipal budget. He said tax appeals that have been won by property owners are costing Freehold Township hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Valesi said every property owner has the right to appeal the current assessment on his property. Many people are winning their appeals as the housing market continues to decline, he said.
The tax appeals cost Freehold Township money when property taxes that have been paid by a property owner must be refunded based on a lower property assessment. As the number of successful tax appeals piles up, so does the money the township is required to refund.
Valesi said it is expected that the reassessment will take effect by January 2013. Following the reassessment, property owners will then be paying taxes based on the current market rate of their property.
“After the reassessment, we hope every property owner feels they have a fair assessment and that their assessment is at or lower than the fair market value of their home,” he said.
Valesi said the projected cost of tax appeals for 2012 is $600,000. The municipal budget includes a new line item of $125,000 to add to a reserve of $250,000 which will cover about half the amount needed. The administrator said the remainder will be taken from surplus (savings).
Valesi said the estimated amount of money lost to tax appeals for 2011 is $174,439, to date. That figure does not reflect the total cost of the tax appeals since some appeals are not yet completed.
He said there was no budgeted line item for tax appeals in the 2011 budget.
All properties in Freehold Township underwent a revaluation about three years ago, and that process generated a new assessed value for each property. The declining housing market over the intervening years has in some cases rendered those assessed values incorrect.
As part of the revaluation, assessors from the firm that conducted the revaluation were to visit every residence and business in Freehold Township.
Valesi said the value of homes that were not personally visited by an appraiser had to be estimated.
In a reassessment, the majority of properties will not require a personal visit from an appraiser. In some cases, however, in a reassessment, an appraiser will visit certain properties.