Im a kinda new NJ home owner, and want to know, historically, do reassessments lead to a raise in prop taxes or a drop? I was under the impression they almost always lead to a raise in taxes?

I'm no expert, but reassessments have almost always lead to an increase in taxes because historically over the past 40 years, property values have risen. I'm assuming - hoping! - that in this case, our taxes will decrease since property values have decreased across the board due to the economic downturn. Of course, this is a logical answer and very often when discussing taxes or politics, logic seems to go out the window! And also, you know what happens when you "assume"....

I don't feel the 74% who didn't appeal are paying the burden for the people who actually got off their butts and did something about their taxes going up. If you chose not to appeal that's not the problem of the people who did. If the township wants more revenue just have a police officer sit on any residential street with radar. I'm sure a lot of tickets would be written. I walk my dogs all around town and I witness the speed at which drivers are doing along the roadways.

Frank, The statistic always given to me when I reported on these matters was 1/3 will go up, 1/3 will stay the same and 1/3 will drop. But that's the conventional wisdom of a stable economy. If the true market value of your property has dropped since 2008, I would think most people can expect a lower assessment.

That said, it doesn't suddenly cost Cinnaminson less money to run the town. The committee will adjust the tax rate to meet its needs post-reassessment. The reassessment means Cinnaminson can better predict how much tax money will be coming in, to avoid that $600K hole, but won't necessarily lower taxes.

Cinnaminson never should have done an Re-assessment when property values were at their highest. Odviously residents are going to appeal since the market dropped, and their assessments are alot higher than their home values. Now Cinnaminson has to pay for another assessment to balance the tax rate. They should have waited in the first place.

LOL! IGive me a break. I was not born yesterday. Dennis DeKlerk actually seeks a reassessment of homes only to collect more tax revenues from the already overburden Cinnaminson home owners. And he wants Cinnaminson home owners to spend $200,000 so he can squeeze $600,000 and possibly more out of homeowners. The bottom line is the cost of running this town is way too high. The average home owner pays about $7,500 a year in real estate taxes. Yet real estate taxes are half or more for comparable homes across in the river in Bucks County.

The township council also needs to take a good look at the way they handle the costs of running this town. Yes, they cannot take another dime from the police force since it has been pared down but at the same time it sure appears that there is lots of fat in the budget for top township employees who are more than generously compensated – not to mention Cinnaminson’s car-gate.

This is BS plain and simple. It's a means to raise taxes because several people were smart enough to appeal the overblown assessments. They can't think of anything else to do? They can spending money on cars but they can't find anyway to cut the budget?

I don't understand how the township allowed these adjustments solely on market value changes It's unfair to everyone else. I did not appeal based on market value because I thought the township would understand that everyone is effected by this, not just the people with time to appeal. was just turned down on a refi because my value decreased 120k since the highest mark. Does that mean my taxes should go down 33%? I don't think so

I also don't understand why they don't assess on land size only. I'm sure there is a valIid reason, I'm just not sure what it is. If they based taxes on land size only, we would not be paying for all of these changes and reassessments. Your lot size is not likely to change.

At the end of the day, the township will collect the money they need to run the township.....why should some get their share reduced when we have all seen our values go down?

Great answer Lauren. Some values will go up some down and some will stay the same. But in the end they will "get you". :)

We did this last year and were very happy with the results. Our assessment went down.

I believe state law dictates on the actual change that can be had within a reassessment, at least upwards. The township allowed the adjustments because people followed the "assessment appeals" process defined on the tax bills, it's state law. As for when they did it last time, that was the legally required time to do it. I thought it was required once every 8 years with a grace period up to 12 or so years between assessments.

We need to fire/kick out all of the idiots that run this town. Too much money going into pockets/stupid projects and when the money is needed to fix things its not there.

I have a rental sfh in Beverly. They did a reassessment last year and I just got the tax notice in the mail. I was able to compare it to last years. The value of my property went up almost $25k, to what I think is at or slightly under fair market value. Beverly lowered their tax rate from a county high of 5.7% to a slightly more reasonable 3.955%. My taxes went down about $440 annually. Cinnaminson tax rate is about 2.5% so they can say everybody's property is worth less, but then they raise the tax rate and you pay about the same amount, give or take a little bit.

Also I would like to note the value of the land in Beverly went up significantly and the value of the structure went up less than $1000.
If my house was down $120k and I couldn't refi, then yes I would absolutely expect my taxes to go down accordingly. Also if you shop around for homeowners insurance you might be surprised what you can get. The economy is in a slump everywhere and its effecting everyone.

Thank you, Fred! Your explanation should have been given to any person who attempted to get a reassessment purely for market value decline (which should have been denied). Every resident's home declined. If you reduce the market value for every home by a certain percentage, you then must raise the multiplier to offset the reduction to collect the same amount of taxes and it's a wash. The 74%, some of whom simply understand math, are certainly paying a higher burden than the 26%. Either reassess, or revoke the appeals and apply a fair market value reduction/multiplier adjustment to all homes.

Hmm...I read 200K and the first thing came to mind...and WHY is the township still buying an overpriced, unoccupied piece of property on Route 130 to plant flowers and look pretty when we're faced with a 600K deficit? I think its time, to reassess MANY recent decisions ie; Police car assignments, sewer authority issues, tax abatements for Hovnanian, etc. Before we start looking to more burdens, how bout we look to lighten the load of those we already took on?

the fact that everyone is appealing and winning shows that the current tax level is out of whack from reality. Funny this story came up I was browsing the tax records recently and found my assesed value is about $60k over market value. I have a nice home and I like where i live but if you base my takes off of the assement you did 5 years ago its no wonder everyone is winning. The fact that they freely admit everyone out there wins their appeal tells me that everyone should appeal casue the tax rate is too high for current times.

Re-asses the township and make it level playing field again.

BTW, maureen dont confuse the money they spent on Barones with money they had or now need. It was basically money given to Cinnaminson to improve Rt 130. The money was use it or loose it so they opted to use it. We can agree to dissagree on what they should have used it for, but the money was not to be used for general tax fund or a swingset or a new car or something like that. It had to be spent on improving rt 130. It wasn't much money they couldnt repave 130 or build a shopping center it was a couple hundred grand and ONLY to be used for rt 130 improvements. I feel they probably overpaid for the property but it was mostly free money they used and if they didnt use it they would not get to use it on other stuff. Use it or loose it.

I also had my property reassessed and it went down $65,000. Although I agree with many, that this is a stupid way to do things, since now others will have to make up for my loss, I was not going to sit tight myself and pay for those who did reassess.
The worst thing about assessments, if you respect your property, take care of it, remodel, fix whats broke, and upgrade things, they tax you more than the jerk down the street who is letting his house fall apart. Someone mentioned a flat "land" tax, which sounds like a pretty damn good idea to me, that way those of us who take care of our properties don't get taxed for doing so!!
Oh and P.S… the people running this town are morons if you haven't already noticed, and the newest hiring is perfect proof. Proving again, it's not what you know, but who you know.
And P.S.S…. as I am typing this, I am staring at an ad with Michelle Obama, where's my barf bag!

I think someone crossed the line in allowing these appeals to be granted. It's one thing for us all to complain that the taxes are too high (and they are). But doesn't the township have a responsibility to make sure everyone pays their fare share?

As long as everyone is assessed on the same scale, it does not matter I they say our properties are worth a dollar or a million dollars

What I now have a problem with is someone made the decision to approve these appeals while the rest of us suckers were trustin that the township was being fair

I would like to know who specifically was responsible and have them explain why it was done

Lauren, I just called the tax office and was told that it is either the county tax board OR the local tax assessor (Dennis Deklerk?) So, I'm not sure if you are correct or they are. I will tell you when they did the last assessment, I appealed because they had me as having a closed in porch which I did not have.. that appeal was not done by the county.

I for one would like someone from the township (Dennis?) to provide us with the facts.

When I asked about the fairness of this I was told everyone has the right to appeal (they have until 4/30 of the year in which they were appealing)

Any way you point your finger, its not fair and it just does not make sense.

Thanks Lauren. I think Dennis is the guy that should help us all understand the what and why. Is that something that the patch could Di (ask Dennis to educate us?)

On the surface this seems like some people got a really good deal while the rest of us did not....

I wan to give the township the benefit of the doubt. Asking them to clarify seems to make the most sense

Is that possible?

When these appeals started coming in, someone from the township should have noticed the gross unfairness of this and alerted residents to what was going on. Who was the township rep who lost all these appeals? A coalition could have been sent to the county to deny these appeals because their arguments apply to 100% of Cinnaminson homeowners, or organize a drive so 100% of homeowners appeal (that’s seems incredibly inefficient, doesn’t it?) The costs of running the township do not suddenly drop 25-30% simply because property values decline. If every single resident appealed their taxes for this reason, a tax rate increase would have been necessary to cover the costs of running the town (again, it would have been a wash). But now we have a situation where 26% are paying their taxes on market value (sharing the spoils of $600k) and 74% are paying taxes on the over assessed value. The township may want to provide some quick answers/actions before it faces an avalanche of appeals.

Agree 100% Eileen!!!

I have just purchased a home in Cinnaminson again, When I make settlement, rest assured, I am filing an appeal. There is a little known fact that the tax folks at the township, county, and state level never let us commoners know about. Once you file for an appeal, they are required to automatically give you a 10% reduction. There is no other process to go through for the 10%. Just get off your hind and go fill out the appeal paperwork. It's that easy! The only time you need to go before the board or a judge (such as the Riverton country club did) is if you want to have it reduced by more than the mandatory automatic 10%. If everyone did this, that $600,000 they are crying about would seem like pennies. It sounds as if the poor mismanagement of our hard earned dollars once again by the local government officials.

Does it make sense to get an appeal now if they are going to institute a re assessment to everyone soon anyway?

I've gotten this question through email. Maybe putting it here might help. The deadline for appeals has passed. It was back in April.

Thanks Christine. What I would really like to know was who (specifically) approved these and what was the reasoning behind it when everyone's value went down? It just makes no sense.

And the other question is, if they reassess andvalues go down again, are we going to have the same problem?

The township should complete the assessment ASAP, perhaps intentionally deflating the value of all homes by a certain percentage and simply increase the tax rate accordingly (I’m sure that’s not legal but suggest it to make a point). For those that struggle with math, they may feel good knowing their home is under “market value.” For those that that don’t struggle with math, they will understand that if a consistent formula is applied to all homeowners, whether we’re all similarly overvalued or undervalued doesn’t matter! There is a cost to run the township that doesn’t automatically fluctuate because of property value declines - assessed value is simply the allocation method used (and you can’t just change the allocation for 26% and have an equitable tax distribution).

Btw, I certainly don’t blame the 26% (congrats); the laws/system permitting this, however, are deeply flawed.

The ignorance and reading comprehension of some of you utterly astounds me.

If they are going to re-assess does that mean the 26% who appealed will be barred from appealing again? I thought you could only appeal your assessment every two year.

Any idea of the breakdown of this loss in revenue by commercial versus residential properties?

This was a brilliant move giving a private (Riverton) Country Club a $5.5 million reassessment....that REALLY hurt Cinnaminson.... BIG TIME! DUH!!!!

OK – there are a lot of people here who don’t quite understand this process. I live in town and I’m an attorney who used to do some tax appeal work up in North Jersey years ago. I’m not exactly an expert anymore, but here’s basically how it works:

1. Where does the right to appeal come from? The State Constitution. It guarantees that all property be taxed at its market value. So, if you feel that your property is not assessed at market value – you have a right to appeal the assessment. You need to file an appeal by April 1 (I think – it’s been awhile). So it has nothing to do with the town allowing appeals. You have a constitutional right to appeal.

2. What happens as a practical matter, however, is you go to the assessor first and speak with him. If the assessor believes that the case is indefensible – for example your house is worth $150K and they have you down for $250K – they are going to lose, so they have the ability to settle the case at that point. You have a right to go before the County Tax Bd with your appeal – and then an appeal to the State Tax Court. Most residential cases never get that far. So the assessor doesn’t “allow” appeals – they typically just settle completely indefensible appeals rather than wasting money defending something that’s indefensible.

3. There is no automatic reduction. In fact, you should be aware that if you file an appeal – your assessment is now open - and if your assessment is too low (it’s pretty rare, but does happen – quite frequently if prices are rising) – the town can counterclaim and you can actually end up with a higher assessment. Towns will often use this as a threat if they think you have no case.

4. Also – in order to have a valid appeal, the assessment must be off by more than 15% - so if the assessment of your house is $200K – you have to prove that your house is worth less than 85% of $200K or $170K in order to win your appeal. If you can only prove it’s worth $175K – you lose – and it will stay at $200K. So the assessor basically has a 15% margin of error because determining market value is a murky science at best.

5. Assuming the assessor and the town’s counsel know what they’re doing, the fact that the town didn’t defend the cases basically tells you one thing – the cases were probably indefensible. Which is pretty much what I would expect given the state of the real estate market. Although I will say that I never filed an appeal – because I thought the assessment was pretty close and I didn’t think I would win a significant reduction.

6. Also, there is no mechanism to just change the whole town’s assessments or rates without a reassessment or revaluation. So the suggestions that the town should somehow just make changes for those who didn’t appeal – it just doesn’t work that way and would lead to all kinds of challenges and law suits. Assessors are not given that much authority.

7. Finally, you have to remember it’s not just residential, but commercial properties that appeal – in fact, the commercial tax appeals usually have much more impact in these situations. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first one is that commercial property owners are much more vigilant about pursuing appeals generally – and are even solicited by attorneys who will take their cases on contingency. Also, the valuation of commercial properties is much more complex. They are usually valued based upon the revenue they produce (there are a number of ways to do it, but for ease of discussion, that’s the most common). So when you see empty buildings, underused properties or low rent stores – understand that it effects the amount or rent they collect, which means their market value is less – which means that they assessment goes down and they pay less taxes. It is not uncommon for such properties to win multi-million dollar reductions in assessments – so you can see why they have much more impact.

Cinn Atty, Appreciate you sharing your knowledge of the law. “Given the state of the real estate market,” your comments support the township pursuing a reassessment since apparently that is the only way to ensure all properties will be assessed at market value. Many, if not the majority, of these appeals are residential. The laws governing appeals were adopted at a time that unlikely anticipated the market decline we’ve experienced in the last 5-7 years. The township, with the knowledge that most homes have experienced at least a 15% decline in market value, should have pursued a reassessment (I’m sure a good attorney could have efficiently streamlined this process since we have up-to-date info. on all homes from the last assessment). The fact remains we have residents paying taxes on two different value standards and I hope the township’s response isn’t that everyone had a constitutional right to appeal.

Still think a good attorney could have successfully fought these appeals - not necessarily on a case-by-case basis, but by approaching the county about the timing of our assessment and the unprecedented market decline shortly thereafter that affected all homeowners. Although there is a 15% rule, appellants have the burden of proving that an assessment is “in error, unreasonable, excessive, or discriminatory.”
Some attorneys simply follow the letter of the law; others look at the big picture and consider the disparate impact decisions may have on citizens.

This is all a joke on us, they can say and do whatever they want once in office....boy I
made an error bye not becoming a politician.....

I believe there is a law thats said that are taxes can't increase more than 2% a year. Does that apply if they reassess us?