Page 14 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • December 5, 2012
The Borough of Midland Park is out $21,781.67 in taxes following state Tax Court and county Board of Taxation judgments reducing assessments on borough properties. In all, 53 taxpayers appealed their assessments to the county board and six filed with the Tax Court of New Jersey. “They’re exercising their rights, and that’s fine,” said Mayor Bud O’Hagan resignedly. “It is not a significant number of appeals, though they do add up,” said Borough Attorney Robert Regan, who defended the appeals where necessary or managed the settlements. “The numbers were much lower than expected, given the revaluation,” Regan said, noting that in other municipalities he represents the number of appeals is substantially greater after a revaluation. He said this was particularly the case where mandated revaluations were carried out at the height of the real estate market. The borough underwent a town wide revaluation last year, and the new rates became effective Jan. 1. The move had been mandated by the state in 2007 only four years after the previous revaluation, but the town was successful
Tax appeals result in $21,780 in refunds to residents
in delaying the order through four postponements as the real estate markets were dropping. The 2011 reval cost the borough $154,000. Three of the judgments, amounting to $9,127, were handed down by the NJ Tax Court. These were for commercial properties at 24 Godwin Avenue, 80 Godwin Avenue and 291 Godwin Avenue. Regan explained that when property values exceed $1 million, the taxpayer can choose to file the appeal directly with the state court. He said three other cases are still pending. The 53 cases handled by the Bergen County board, which amounted to $12,654, were almost all residential, with the mandated refunds ranging from a low of $164.54 to a high of $2,005. The drop in assessment ranged from $6,400 for a home on Clinton Ave. to $78,000 for a home on West Summit Ave., but most dropped by only a few thousand dollars. “Our tax assessor and our revaluation firm showed very strong cases in defending the appeals. Many more than the 60 were actually dismissed,” pointed out Borough
Clerk/Administrator Addie Hanna. She said that the funds for the refunds are included in the 2012 operating budget. Councilwoman Nancy Peet asked whether any residents had petitioned to delay tax payments because of hardships caused by Hurricane Sandy. She said substantial delays would affect the municipality’s ability to forward school and county taxes. Hanna said only two residents had applied. Mayor O’Hagan called the revaluation process “a math question,” and expressed his opinion that residents would have been better served had the property values after the reval been higher than they ended up being. He higher overall assessment would have resulted in a lower tax rate. Total assessments went up from $863,221,213 to $1,062 billion and the value of the average house rose from $300,000 to $392,000. O’Hagan, who is a Realtor, said that when residents want to sell their homes, they find it harder to market them at higher prices if their assessments are low. He said in the last six months, no house in the borough had been sold for more than $500,000.