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Court Rejects Property Owner’s Unverified Sales Evidence at Trial
In the recent unpublished opinion in Rosenberg v. City of Newark, Docket No. 018031-2009 (Tax Ct. August 16, 2012), a New Jersey Tax Court judge affirmed a property’s assessment after rejecting comparable sales evidence provided at trial by a pro se plaintiff as proof of the fair market value for his two-family rental property. The judge... Read More
“Day of Reckoning” for Monroe Township following Years of Successful Tax Appeals
The Township of Monroe says it has lost millions of dollars, and exhausted cash reserves, due to successful tax appeals by property owners. The Township’s total assessed value has fallen over $140 million dollars in the last two years, in large part because of bulk appeals by the ten retirement communities in the Township. The... Read More
Jefferson’s Challenge to Tax Equalization Formula Rejected
This week, a New Jersey appeals court rejected a challenge by the Township of Jefferson to the formula utilized in creating the property tax equalization ratio, thereby affirming the trial court decisions made by New Jersey Tax Court Judge Vito Bianco. In Township of Jefferson v. Director, Division of Taxation, the appellate panel considered... Read More
Widespread Disagreement on Plan to use Eminent Domain to Acquire Mortgages
Time Magazine recently covered a controversial plan proposed by Mortgage Resolution Partners to acquire distressed mortgages using the government’s eminent domain power. The article highlighted some of the concerns raised in a post on this blog, as well as in other local and national media outlets. Specifically, mortgage holders will not likely accept the value... Read More
"Special" Valuation Rules N/A To Environmentally Remediated Property
Yesterday a New Jersey appellate court narrowed the scope of a property owner’s liability for environmental remediation when the owner’s property is taken via eminent domain. In Borough of Paulsboro v. Essex Chemical Corporation, the Superior Court, Appellate Division (Skillman, J.A.D.) held that a property owner that had obtained approval of a closure plan for... Read More
Tax Appeal Filing Deadline Upheld Again
In Shin v. Borough of Norwood, a New Jersey appellate court upheld the strict interpretation of the April 1st filing deadline for real property tax appeals. A property owner attempted to file a tax appeal for the 2010 tax year with the Bergen County Board of Taxation on the April 1st filing deadline. The property owner’s counsel... Read More
Tenants’ Temporary Structures Found As Taxable Real Property
In a recent unpublished opinion, a Tax Court judge considered an in limine motion seeking to bar the report and testimony of the Township of Belleville’s appraisal expert as lacking a credible factual basis. The property owners filed complaints challenging the assessment on their real property in Belleville for tax years 2008 through 2010. The property... Read More
Bill would require schools, fire districts, and county governments to share in refunding property taxes
Senator Anthony Bucco (R-Morris) has introduced S-1896, which would require county governments, school districts, fire districts and other taxing districts to share in the burden of paying for property tax refunds. Currently, only the county shares in this burden with municipalities through the county tax equalization process while schools and fire districts, and other taxing districts... Read More
Towns Losing Millions in Property Tax Relief From Utility Taxes
NJ Spotlight recently reported how the New Jersey State budget will continue to divert funds from a pool of taxes collected from utilities. As noted in the article, available here, various statutes provide that the majority of the energy taxes be distributed to local governments for property tax relief. However, since 2008 more than $270 million... Read More
Red Bull Exemption Redux
Earlier this year in the 2010 tax appeal Red Bull Arena Inc. v. Town of Harrison, the Tax Court granted summary judgment to the Town and rejected a claim by the owners of the Red Bull Arena, home to the New York Red Bulls Soccer Club, that the property is entitled to a tax-exemption under... Read More
