BLOG: Property Tax Appeal
Despite Threat, Jersey City Reval Still Not Cancelled
Despite threatening to cancel the city-wide property revaluation in Jersey City, Mayor Steven Fulop has not followed through with any formal action to cancel the City’s first revaluation since 1988. Fulop had voted against the revaluation contract in 2011 as a member of the Jersey City Council, at which time the revaluation company had a... Read More
Mayor Voting with His Feet: Selling house because his taxes are too high
The mayor of Egg Harbor Township is selling his home after a revaluation in his municipality caused his taxes to increase 60% to over $31,000. The home was assessed in 2012 for $463,800, which equated to a market value of roughly $750,000. The new assessment values the home at $1,100,400. Currently five homes are on... Read More
Underwater Mortgage Plan: Will it Sink or Swim?
It has been several months since we last reported on the scheme to use eminent domain to seize “underwater” mortgages in various places around the country. It appeared that the idea died out earlier this year, but it has recently come back with a vengeance. In recent weeks, several California cities have advanced efforts to... Read More
Unreliable Testimony Dooms Taxpayer’s Appeal
Another New Jersey taxpayer recently saw its property tax assessment affirmed by the New Jersey Tax Court due to a failure to present evidence to overcome the presumption of validity given to the municipal assessment. 90 Riverdale, L.L.C. challenged its 2009, 2010 and 2011 property tax assessments of its property located in the Borough of... Read More
Valuing contaminated properties – “in use” or ”not in use”, that is the question. . . .
In Orient Way Corp. v. Township of Lyndhurst, the New Jersey Tax Court was confronted with the issue of valuation for local property tax purposes real property impacted by environmental contamination. This matter involved tax appeals for 2006 through 2008 on an old industrial property where the issue of contamination was undisputed. Also, undisputed was... Read More
Karan and Dune Replenishment: Where Do We Go From Here?
Last week, the New Jersey Supreme Court threw its hat into the ring in the controversy between New Jersey’s municipalities and beachfront property owners regarding the construction or replenishment of sand dunes to protect the shore from future storms. This dispute has been going on for years, but has become front page news since Superstorm... Read More
Bergen County Hospital: Exemption Safe or on Thin Ice?
A recent opinion by New Jersey Tax Court Judge Christine Nugent concluded that a long-time Bergen County hospital could remain exempt from local property taxation, but directed further proceedings to determine if the exemption would, in fact stand. The hospital, formerly known as the Bergen Pines County Hospital in Paramus, has been operated by a... Read More
“Faulty” Highest and Best Use Analysis Dooms Tax Appeal
In a recently published opinion, the New Jersey Tax Court reminded appraisers of the importance of the highest and best use analysis. The case, Clemente v. South Hackensack, involved a challenge to the property tax assessment for tax years 2009, 2010 and 2011 on a building which houses the Clemente Italian Bakery & Deli, a... Read More
Appellate Court: Contract Purchasers Have Standing to File Tax Appeal
The New Jersey Appellate Division reversed a Tax Court judge’s decision to dismiss a contract purchaser’s tax appeal because the purchaser was not the owner of the subject property at the time the appeal was filed. The property was under a contract of sale in December 2011 with an expected closing date of February 2012. ... Read More
NJ Supreme Court Erodes Special Benefits, Like the Dunes
This morning, the New Jersey Supreme Court has issued its much-anticipated decision in the dune replenishment case, Borough of Harvey Cedars v. Karan, which was argued this May. A copy of the decision is available here. This opinion is hot off the press and we are reading it now, but the Court has reversed the... Read More
