While numerous towns in Monmouth and Middlesex counties have undergone revaluations in recent years, at least one has steered clear of the process since 1983.
Despite its three-decade gap in value adjustments, East Brunswick has used sales data to keep assessments current, according to Finance Director Lou Neely.
“We have been very aggressive in keeping our assessment to-sales ratio very tight, and the assessor does a good job at that,” he said.
In a town the size of East Brunswick, which had more than 47,000 residents in 2010, sales data can be used to provide accurate assessments, Neely said.
“If you only sell five houses in a year, there’s little chance it is going to reflect the value within the communities. But in a town like East Brunswick where we sell 600 to 1,000 homes a year from all sections of the community, it provides you with a measure of the assessment to-sales ratio,” Neely said.
A revaluation can be authorized by the governing body or ordered by the county board of taxation if a spate of tax appeals is filed in a given town.
“The county board has not formally ordered it, so it has been at the discretion of the governing body, and they’ve chosen not to do it,” Neely said.
In 2013, Middlesex County ordered both Monroe and Piscataway to fund revaluations.
Neely said the purpose of a revaluation is to create 100 percent true value within a community, as well as to ensure each taxpayer is paying their proper share of taxes. However, a revaluation may not be cost effective if it is unnecessary, he said.
“The first thing you want to look at is: How wellclustered are your assessments? Are they valid or are they all over the field?”
Revaluations often cost towns upwards of $800,000, depending on the size of the town, and Neely said they often create turmoil for property owners and elected officials.
“Often when a revaluation takes place, it is costly and it creates a great deal of anxiety within the community. Up to 25 percent of the community will appeal their values by the reassessment firm,” he said. “There’s often communication difficulties, and quite often the party that approves the revaluation is not re-elected.
“That combination of events does not make one rush forward to do a revaluation.”
In 2013, Mayor David Stahl suggested the township undertake a revaluation, which Neely said would be beneficial, despite the township’s effort to keep data current.
“There probably should be [a revaluation], because there are a lot of changes that have taken place in that period of time, and the only way to update your records and have good current records is to visit every house and establish a new record base,” he said.
In Monmouth County, a new pilot program is forcing towns to undergo periodic revaluations. The Real Property Assessment Demonstration Program calls for each of the county’s 53 municipalities to assess 20 percent of its properties yearly over a five-year span.
The program aims to avoid spikes in tax appeals brought on by changes in the real estate market, while spreading out the cost of revaluations.
John Butow, tax assessor for several municipalities, including Long Branch and Oceanport, said the pilot program has already reduced the number of tax appeals filed with the Monmouth County Board of Taxation to 4,990 in 2014 — down from 6,940 in 2013 and 7,988 in 2012.
Because several municipalities have not authorized a revaluation for close to 10 years, the county last year ordered revaluations for 28 of its 53 towns, including Eatontown, Fair Haven, Long Branch and Red Bank.