Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • October 13, 2010 Franklin Lakes Charles Jacob Shotmeyer earns Eagle Scout Award Franklin Lakes resident Charles Jacob Shotmeyer of Bethany Church Boy Scout Troop 77, has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, the top honor available to a Boy Scout. For his Eagle Project, he contacted Doug Struyk, president of the Christian Health Care Center, and planned, executed, and completed a beatification of the center’s Spirit Trail. The trail is a walkway that connects several facilities on the CHCC’s campus. Shotmeyer and his team of Scouts trimmed foliage, cleared debris, and mulched a border along the trail. As a finishing touch, he identified several significant trees and wrote a brief description of each for the campus map. Shotmeyer’s family has been very involved at the CHCC in many capacities for many years, so it was fitting that he choose to benefit this organization and its senior residents. “I thank all of my Scoutmasters for all of the time and effort that they put into Troop 77 and into my life,” Shotmeyer said. “Scouting has given me many exceptional opportunities to develop my personal leadership skills while making great friendships and having a ton on fun. Thank you to all of you who have been a part of my Scouting experience.” Shotmeyer is currently a sophomore at Eastern Christian High School, where he is taking all honors courses and is involved with soccer, track, and golf. He is also a member of the academic team, class council, and student senate. He is part of the Bethany Church youth group. Jacob plans to attend college and pursue a career in math or science, possibly dentistry. (continued on page 25) Charles Jacob Shotmeyer ��������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������� New assessments coming by Frank J. McMahon The Borough of Franklin Lakes has begun a reassessment of all properties in the municipality, and property owners will receive a letter in mid-November notifying them of their new property assessments. In August, the borough council adopted an ordinance that authorized a special emergency appropriation of $80,000 to hire Appraisal Systems, Inc. of Glen Rock to conduct a borough-wide reassessment program to update the previous revaluation that was conducted in 2007. The reassessment is intended to bring the borough’s assessed property values more in line with their real market values and thereby reduce the number of tax appeals being filed by residents who feel their properties are over-assessed in the current housing market. In 2007, the assessed value of every property in the borough was set at 100 percent market value as of Oct. 1, 2006, according to information provided by Mayor Maura DeNicola. The mayor explained that this is the standard that all assessments must meet after a revaluation based on state law. Borough Tax Assessor Michael Leposky explained that the real estate market had seen a dramatic increase in value until the middle of 2007. “But since that point in ������������������������� ������������������������� ����������������������������� ������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������ �������������������������������������� ������������ ��������������������������� ���������������������� time,” he said, “there has been a dramatic decrease, and studies of sales records in 2009 indicate that current assessments are on average 10 to 15 percent higher than their market value as of Oct. 1, 2009.” Leposky explained further that the reassessment will mitigate the potential loss of taxes due to appeals because, without a reassessment, every property owner would have the potential of obtaining a successful reduction of their assessments by 15 percent. “That reduction would have to be collected the following year as an increase of the tax rate in addition to the cost of emergency bonding, surplus funding, and administrative court costs in the appeal hearings,” Leposky said. According to Leposky, a property owner’s taxes will not change because of the reassessment. He explained that a property tax bill consists of two parts: the assessment and the tax rate. Assessments are used to apportion the budgetary requirements of the municipality by charging every owner the same percentage of their market value to raise the total amount needed to meet the budget. The tax rate is determined by how much is budgeted for the schools and for the municipal and county governments. During the reassessment, Leposky (continued on page 33) Dear Advertisers, October is... Awareness Month The staff of The Villadom TIMES has chosen this month to offer a focus on Women’s Health Issues and Breast Cancer Awareness. We look forward to your support by including your advertising message in this feature section throughout the month of October, which will afford us the opportunity to inform, share and educate our readers on issues of significance to all of us. 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