Monmouth County to Participate in Newly Enacted Property Tax Program

In February 2013, Governor Christie signed legislation that creates a pilot program for revising the timing for submission of real property tax appeals at the County Board level.  The program is known as the “Real Property Assessment Demonstration Program (“Program”).

Under the present system, tax assessors are required to submit their books for finalization by January 1 of the current tax year.  Property owners are not advised of the assessment on their properties until they are in receipt of an assessment card, which is typically mailed around the beginning of February.  All County Board and Direct Appeals to the Tax Court must be filed by April 1.

Under the Program, this timing is modified to require assessors to provide notice to property owners by November 15 of the pre-tax.  Any appeals to the County Board would then have to be filed no later than January 15 of the current tax year.  Direct appeals to the Tax Court for properties assessed over One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.0) would continue to be filed by April 1.  The reason for the change in timing is to permit most lower level appeals to be resolved prior to the adoption of municipal budgets which typically occurs on or about March 31 of the tax year.  By encouraging an earlier notification to taxpayers, an assessor will be able to better negotiate and resolve taxpayer disagreements prior to finalizing the books, which is intended to give more certainty to a municipality when establishing its budget.  Monmouth County has elected to join in this Program.  The legislation allows for two counties to participate in the first two years with two more counties being permitted to participate in the following two years.

An additional goal of this legislation is to have more frequent assessments and revaluations in the affected towns.  A practical concern is the effect such frequent assessments will have on any appeals that are settled in partial reliance on application of the Tax Freeze Act.

The Tax Freeze Act provides that in a matter settled, typically the agreed upon assessed value for the current year remains fixed for the two tax years following the settlement year.  The application of the Tax Freeze Act is voided in those years where a town has a town wide revaluation.

It is expected that as this pilot program is to be implemented for calendar year 2014, rules and bulletins will be issued to give further guidance in the proper compliance with this program to assure that it yields meaningful data and results.

So if you live in Monmouth County, and you receive a property tax assessment postcard in November of this year, don’t ignore it thinking that you have another five months to file your appeal.  Read it carefully and follow the instructions.

If you have questions on this and other property tax appeal questions, please contact me, Mark Follender, or the Scarinci Hollenbeck attorney with whom you work.