By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Plainsboro Township officials are gearing up for a township-wide reassessment, which is intended to ensure that all property owners — residential and non-residential — will be paying their fare share of property taxes.
State law requires all properties to be assessed at 100 percent of fair market value, which is the price that a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller. A township-wide revaluation of every property in Plainsboro Township was conducted about 10 years ago.
Since that time, property values have fluctuated and it is time to update them, said Tax Assessor Thomas Mancuso. A property’s assessment may not reflect its current fair market value, and that means the owners of some properties are paying less than their fair share and others are paying more.
To conduct the reassessment, Township Committee awarded a $110,00 contract to Professional Property Appraisers Inc., which is based in Delran.
The company will measure the exterior of every property in the township — 5,507 residential properties, 11 rental apartment complexes and all of the commercial and industrial properties. There are 5,872 taxable properties on the books.
The company will also examine the interior of every property to ensure that the records in the Tax Assessor’s Office are accurate, Mr. Mancuso said. This would include information such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and whether there is a finished basement. Those amenities could affect the sale price of a property and, ultimately, its assessed value.
Letters are being sent to every property owner — residential and non-residential — to inform them of the reassessment, what to expect during the process and how to set up an appointment for an interior inspection. The first batch of letters will be mailed within the next two weeks.
While Professional Property Appraisers Inc. will inspect the outside of every property, Mr. Mancuso recommended that property owners allow the inspectors to review the interior. The inspector will attempt to get inside the house, but if the owner is not available, a card will be left that asks the owner to schedule an appointment.
After the reassessment is completed, a letter will be sent to each property owner that lists the new assessed value. The letter will most likely be sent out in early December. If a property owner has questions, he or she can discuss it with the tax assessor. The new assessments will take effect for the 2016 tax year.
Mr. Mancuso said it is important for every property to be accurately assessed to avoid tax appeals. It is especially important for non-residential properties to be accurately assessed because if the owners believe the property is over-assessed, it will lead to a tax appeal.
Tax appeals are costly and hard to defend, the tax assessor said. If a property owner’s tax appeal is successful, the township must reimburse the owner for the amount of the property tax that was “overpaid,” he added.
Mr. Mancuso said the township collects the property taxes for Middlesex County, the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District and for itself. The township pays the amount of money billed by the county and the school district to them, and then to itself.
But if there is a successful tax appeal, the township must reimburse the property owner for the full amount of money owed — out of its own pocket, Mr. Mancuso said. The county and the school district do not have to come up with the money to reimburse the property owner.
“Who pays to reimburse the winner (of a successful tax appeal)? It’s spread out among all of the property owners, which could mean a higher tax rate for next year. That’s the reason that you want an accurate assessment of all properties,” Mr. Mancuso said.
