By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Vying to take on the task of a township-wide property revaluation in 2013, five firms submitted bids that were opened in public by Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun Wednesday morning.
The bids ranged from a high of $1.02 million submitted by Vital Communications of Trenton, to a low bid of $729,780 turned in by Professional Property Appraisers of Delran.
Appraisal Systems Inc., based in Whippany, submitted the second lowest bid of $746,965. Tyler Technologies of Norwich, Conn., turned in a bid of $935,200 and Certified Valuations Inc. of Randolph put in a bid of $995,000.
The next step is to review the bids for compliance with the bid specifications, or requirements, prepared by Lawrence Township, Mr. Krawczun said. A contract will be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, which is not necessarily the lowest bidder, he said.
Township Council will award a contract to the lowest responsible bidder the one who has met all of the requirements in the bid specifications next month.
Once a contract has been awarded, the revaluation firm will conduct several public meetings to explain the revaluation process and how it works, Mr. Krawczun said. Residents will learn what to expect during the revaluation process.
State law requires all properties to be assessed at 100 percent of fair market value. But when the ratio of assessed value to fair market value falls below 70 percent, a municipality may be ordered to conduct a revaluation.
Between 2007 and 2010, when the Mercer County Board of Taxation ordered the revaluation, the ratio in Lawrence had ranged from 53.15 percent in 2007 to 48.76 in 2010. The ratio was 50.77 in 2011 and it is 49.2 for 2012.
The new assessments will take effect in 2014. It is important for property owners to realize that the 2014 municipal property tax rate will be adjusted downward to account for the new values. Property owners should not apply the 2013 municipal tax rate to the 2014 assessments, Mr. Krawczun said.
