Mayor: Taxes must increase
By Amy Batista, Special Writer
‘The borough will have to raise the tax rate.’
– Mayor Steven Kirson, Hightstown
HIGHTSTOWN — Borough tax properties have been reassessed lower for most residents but taxes still are set to increase.
Nine properties increased in assessed value in the recent borough-wide reassessment of town.
”The average change in assessed value, excluding exempt properties, compared to 2012 was approximately 17 percent — that’s down 17 percent,” said borough Tax Assessor Ken Pacera, who did the reassessment himself. “Around 50 percent of the properties had assessments decrease greater than 20 percent compared to 2012. Only nine properties increased in assessed value.”
But, he pointed out, “It is important to note that a decrease in assessed value will not necessarily mean a decrease in taxes.”
According to Mr. Pacera, approximately 250 properties had assessment changes that were below average.
Property owners appeal to the Mercer County Tax Board or the state Tax Court if the assessed value exceeds $1,000,000.
In 2012, the average residential assessment was $264,056. In 2013, the average residential assessment is $212,370. The overall tax rate was $3.188 per $100 of assessed value, according to Mr. Pacera.
”We were fortunate enough that both the county and state agreed that he could do (the reassessment),” Mayor Kirson said of Mr. Pacera. “We were able to avoid going out to a private company.”
According to Mr. Pacera, the assessments were finalized Jan. 15.
”Letters will be going out at the end of this month, this week or possibly next, to all homeowners with the new assessment information,” Borough Administrator Michael Theokas said Jan. 28.
There is a book is available for the public with additional tax information in it, according to Mr. Theokas.
”The ‘book’ is a complete listing of properties and assessed value,” Mr. Theokas said. “It is available in the lobby of the Public Works building.”
According to Mr. Theokas, there are several ways to “interpret” the “savings” the borough will experiencing through the tax reassessment.
”It would have cost us significantly more money to do this reassessment with an outside firm than it did with Ken doing it,” Mr. Theokas said.
He continued, “It should also eliminate tax appeals this year and moving forward a few years. Some residents will see a decrease in their property tax bills, some will see an increase, because all this does is equally divide the tax burden among all properties and equalize the values.”
The mayor said, “(Mr. Pacera) has pretty much lowered, throughout the community, substantially (the assessed value of) many of the properties so when you get those notices at home, do not call your best friend and have a party. We still need the same amount of money to run the borough so the tax rate will be going up to offset the reduction.”
He added, “The residents in the borough will not see a change in their taxes except for whatever changes come about in the budget process.”
According to the mayor, there also are some people who appealed within the last few years who can anticipate an increase in their taxes.
”There are some folks who have appealed in the last three or four years,” Mayor Kirson said. “They can anticipate, most of them, that their taxes will go up because when they appealed, we lost every appeal. Whatever they got, in a rebate or refund or reduction, the rest of the residents in town had to subsidize that (cost).”
Budget workshops will begin Feb. 6 and Feb. 12.
”Once we get closer to adopting a budget, that will give us a better idea of the complete tax implications,” Mr. Theokas said. “We also, obviously, have the school and county taxes to contend with, also.”
According to Mayor Kirson, last year during the budget process, the borough had to reallocate $65,000 to other residents in town resulting from tax appeals.
”The good thing about it is that the borough will eliminate the process for the next few years,” Mayor Kirson said.
The mayor told the Herald on Thursday, “We have to take into the fact that the borough works on property taxes.”
He continued, “The borough will have to raise the tax rate.”
Mayor Kirson explained the overall goal was to eliminate tax appeals for the next several years, which would give the borough a tax break when it comes to budgeting.
In other news, Anne Blake was appointed to serve as the full-time tax and water-sewer collector.
”Anne has been working as the assistant,” Mayor Kirson said, adding the part-time tax collector resigned.
Also, the council has been discussing a code of conduct and has drawn up a draft resolution. It was pondered Tuesday night by council members and then tabled.
”I think several issues have arisen lately,” Councilwoman Lynne Woods said. “I was speaking to the borough clerk, Debra Sopronyi, about how to address them, and I was told that other municipalities have this code of conduct.”
She continued, “I think it is kind of nice because it does lay things out for us all very clearly and also for the public session, and we can discuss it.”

