Appeals Court Affirms Limited Scope of Correction of Errors Statute in Local Property Tax Assessments

A New Jersey appeals court affirmed the State tax court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the municipality against a taxpayer’s claim that he was entitled to lower property tax assessments for the tax years 2005 through 2008 under the Correction of Errors Statute, N.J.S.A. 54:51A-7. That statute provides, in part, that the tax court may upon the filing of a complaint at any time during the tax year or within the next three tax years thereafter, enter judgment to correct typographical errors, errors in transposing, and mistakes in tax assessments. In Moran v. Montgomery Township, App. Div. Docket No. 35-2-8324 (June 23, 2010), the taxpayer had filed a property tax appeal seeking to reduce that portion of the assessments on his land due to the existence of a conservation easement, as had been done in previous years. The tax court ruled that the municipality’s failure to reduce the assessment was not correctable under the Correction of Errors statute. The appellate court agreed with the lower court that the alleged error was not within the category of an indisputable mistake, but rather, it involved the assessor’s exercise of judgment and, as such, it could not be corrected under the statute.