If you live in Shamong, you’ve probably already received a letter about the reassessment completed on private properties. Included in the letter is an estimate of the effect the reassessment has on your current tax bill. This is an estimate based on the 2011 budget as the 2012 tax rate won’t be available until the summer.
Still, you might be confused as to what a reassessment really is. It’s rather simple, actually.
Let’s say you bought the home you’re living in 10 years ago. Chances are, because the home-sales market was stronger in 2001, your home’s value was higher back then. So by performing a reassessment, home values will be brought to today’s market standards. And for some homeowners, that could mean a drop in a home’s value — and a drop in property taxes.
A long time coming
Shamong Tax Assessor Jay Renwick said the last reassessment in town was 23 years ago.
Based on the department’s reassessment, Renwick said, taxes would drop for one-third of residents, would be stable for another third, and would spike for a third.
He said the township was able to get into 92 percent of all houses to conduct the reassessment.
“That’s a very high percentage,” Renwick said, noting he tried to get into 100 percent of the houses. He tried several times at all houses, but was either ignored or no one was home.
“Nobody likes to pay taxes,” Renwick said. “Really, this isn’t about taxes, this is about the value. If you want to appeal, you have to appeal your value, not your taxes.
“The value is the standard that’s used to make sure that it’s distributed equitably across the township. We’ve taken that into consideration. We’ve looked at sales that occurred two years ago, three years ago in developments and we can see the trend is absolutely coming down. Hopefully the new assessed values will reflect the current market — not a year ago, two years ago. We’re trying to be fair — there are no other standards than market value and that’s what we’re trying to establish.”
He said the challenging thing is getting people to understand the process and to let staff in to do inspections.
“The residents have been very cooperative with the process,” Renwick said. “Everybody knew what was going on, so that helped us overcome that challenge. “The other challenge is going to be explaining to the residents what the impact is. When you’re looking at the value, you have to step away from the taxes itself.”
Renwick said he feels bad for those whose taxes will rise, but stands behind the reassessment.
“I expect that I will hear probably from the people that went up — the people that went down won’t be as vocal,” he said. “There are quite a few people whose taxes are going down.”
Some 1,340 households are seeing anything from a tax reduction to a tax increase of no more than $250. A tax increase of between $250 to $500 will be levied on 230 properties.
Another 160 lots will see a tax increase of anywhere from $500 to $750. Some 110 homes will be taxed an addition $750 to $1,000.
And 130 properties’ taxes will go up another $1,000 to $1,500, while another 70 homes will see a tax increase of $1,500 to $2,000.
Also, 93 properties will be taxed more than $2,000.
Renwick did not have numbers for the commercial properties in town.
Please contact the Renwick at (609) 268–2377, ext. 302, for additional concerns about the reassessment.
