Residential Taxpayers in Franklin Lakes Pick Up Win in Tax Court

The Tax Court recently issued an opinion following the trial in Givant v. Franklin Lakes, wherein owners of a single family home filed complaints challenging their assessments for the 2012 and 2013 tax years.  The property subject of the appeal is a colonial-style single-family home, built around 1984 with a gross living area of 4,160 sq. ft.  It had been assessed by the Borough at $1,124,300 for both years under appeal.

At trial, both sides presented an appraiser as an expert witness. Plaintiff’s expert concluded that the true market value of the home as of the relevant valuation dates for both years was $960,000.  Whereas, the Borough’s expert concluded that the market value was $1.2 million.  Both experts relied on the sales comparison approach in reaching their value conclusions.

After hearing testimony from both experts, the court concluded that the presumption of validity had been overcome by plaintiffs.  Nonetheless, as so often is the case, overcoming the presumption alone will not result in a reduction in the assessment.  The court had to go further to “evaluate and weigh the evidence presented to determine if either party has met the requisite burden of persuading a change in the assessment” based on a fair preponderance of the evidence.

The Tax Court threw out a few of plaintiff’s expert’s comparable sales in addition to a majority of plaintiff’s expert’s adjustments with the exception of the pool and basement.  The court found the Borough’s expert’s comparable sales and adjustments as more credible and thus gave it more weight.  After applying the adjustments to both experts’ comparable sales, the court concluded a market value for both tax years of $1,100,000.  After application of the ratio, the court thereby reduced the original assessments from $1,124,300 to $1,007,160 for tax year 2012, and $1,036,750 for tax year 2013.

Although the taxpayers may not have obtained exactly what they had hoped, the court’s rejection of nearly all of plaintiff’s expert’s adjustments could have rendered an outcome in favor of the Borough.

A copy of the court’s opinion can be found here.