According to officials at the April 3 committee meeting, the township can either spend $14,000 now and approximately $55,000 later, or pay the whole sum sooner for the revisions.
by Jane Meggitt, Special Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD — The governing body must decide whether to finance map changes in advance of the township’s revaluation now or later.
According to officials at the April 3 committee meeting, the township can either spend $14,000 now and approximately $55,000 later, or pay the whole sum sooner for the revisions.
Township Engineer Patrick Jeffery told the governing body the tax map update necessary for the township’s current reevaluation was based on a 16-page list of comments he received from the state.
While updating the maps to a digital format wasn’t required by the state at this time, it is likely to be in the future, he said.
Mr. Jeffery estimated it would cost about $14,000 to update the tax maps non-digitally.
”A lot of it is formatting, such as the scale of the maps. [The state] wants smaller maps with more detail,” he said. “Block designations must look a certain way.”
Some new subdivisions must be added, he said, noting that the idea is for maps of municipalities throughout the state to all conform
Currently, he said, Upper Freehold’s scale varies from map sheet to sheet.
He estimated creating digital tax maps would cost between $50,000 and $60,000. Some of the township’s current tax maps are at least 50 years old, and his company, T&M Associates, scans them into their computers.
”At some point in time, that won’t be acceptable. It must be a scaled, digital image,” Mr. Jeffery said. “The bulk of the (revision) effort is old stuff,” he said, adding that subdivisions approved within the past few years are already required to submit digital maps.
Township Administrator Dianne Kelly said that if the township went ahead and digitized the tax maps now, it could modify the emergency bond appropriations made last year when the township was ordered to do the re-evaluation by the county.
If, in the future, the state mandates that tax maps must be digital, it would no longer be an option, according to Ms. Kelly.
Township Attorney Dennis Collins agreed, saying that if the township intended to roll the cost into part of the re-evaluation expenses, it must be done now.
Committeeman Steve Alexander asked whether purchasing new tax maps could be considered a capital expenditure to which Ms. Kelly said she did not believe so, as it wasn’t a tangible asset, but will look into the possibility further.
Mr. Jeffery said he could provide the committee with a proposal at their next meeting scheduled for April 17, estimating that a non-digital revision would take about three weeks to complete, with a digital version taking more time.
Deputy Mayor Robert Frascella noted that authorizing a digital revision now would save taxpayers money in the long run, while Ms. Kelly said she would verify the acceptability of rolling revision expenses into the emergency bond.

