By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN – The Monmouth County Assessment Demonstration Program is not a tax reform program. It is an initiative that seeks to assess a property at its fair market value to ensure the owner pays his fair share of property taxes on an annual basis.
That was the message state Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) and Monmouth County Tax Board President James Stuart delivered during a presentation at the April 27 meeting of the Township Committee.
In the two weeks since the presentation, Stuart has resigned from the tax board.
The Assessment Demonstration Program, which was created by the enactment of a state law, is used to assign an assessed value to a property and that value becomes the basis by which a property owner’s tax bill is determined.
As the program was rolled out and individuals had their property assigned a new assessed value, complaints about the impact the program was having on property taxes were relayed to municipal officials. Specifically, the issues concerned property owners who saw their homes’ assessment and subsequently their property taxes increase.
In response to comments residents made during the meeting about the fairness of the impact of the program on senior citizens, single individuals and families, Township Attorney Roger McLaughlin said, “The idea of assessment is to value the property correctly regardless of who lives there.”
Manalapan’s elected officials have been asked by the Democratic candidates who are running for municipal office this year to follow the lead of several municipalities in the county and remove the township from the Assessment Demonstration Program.
Before taking any action on that request, the committee members said they wanted O’Scanlon and Stuart to explain what the assessment initiative is designed to accomplish.
Stuart said the purpose of the program is to prevent some people from underpaying the taxes they owe and to prevent others from overpaying taxes they owe based on property assessments that are not at market value. The program establishes a home’s market value every year and gives people the right to appeal their assessment every year, he said.
“We think every town (in the county) will eventually see the light” for the program, Stuart said. “This is not a tax reform program. If you are looking for tax reform, you have to go to the state Legislature. The tax board’s job is to oversee the assessment process.”
Stuart said the new program replaces one that had assessments set when a town underwent a complete revaluation every decade. As the market changed and the assessment remained the same, the result was an unequal tax burden among property owners, he said.
O’Scanlon said he supported the legislation that created the assessment demonstration program and he called it a “more transparent and more fair system than the previous system. There is no aspect of the old system that is better than the new system.”
The assemblyman said certain aspects of the assessment demonstration program were adjusted administratively as it became apparent that changes were needed.
McLaughlin said that during the evening’s discussion, the committee would not listen to comments relating to allegations of conflict of interest involving certain aspects of the assessment demonstration program that have been made in published reports. He said the presentation would focus on the merits of the program.
“The allegations will be handled by the authorities and those are under investigation now. We are seeking information on the substance of the program,” he said.
Resident Deborah Smarth asked if a similar assessment program is used in other states, to which O’Scanlon said 75 percent of other states use a form of the program.
“We are slashing the rates of (tax) appeals. If people were unhappy with the program there would be more appeals,” he said. “This is not a pilot program because we do not believe it will work. It is a pilot program so that we can tweak what is not working.”
Bernie Frojmovich, a Democrat who is running for Township Committee, said, “the words ‘criminal investigation’ and ‘tax program’ in the same sentence are problematic for some residents.”
Frojmovich suggested that the committee ask someone who does not share O’Scanlon and Stuart’s enthusiasm for the assessment demonstration program to present an opposing point of view.
Stuart noted that the firm that assesses the properties in a town is hired by the municipality’s governing body after elected officials issue a request for proposals. He said the tax board does not hire the assessment firm.
“We have complete faith in our (tax) administrator,” Stuart said.
O’Scanlon said officials are looking at the situation in which certain assessment firms perform work in specific counties.
“But opting out of the assessment demonstration program does not save a town. Opting out is opting back into a program that is less fair,” he said.
The Monmouth County Tax Board has passed a resolution that permits a municipality to opt out of performing mandatory annual reassessments beginning in 2017 as part of the demonstration program.
However, the tax board has yet to receive approval of changes to the program – including the opt-out option – from the State Assessment Demonstration Program Monmouth County Steering Committee, according to Manalapan officials.
The deadline for municipal officials to decide to opt out of the program is May 31.