Tax Appeals Cost Township $481K

Tax appeals will cost the township approximately $481,000, a figure that will have to be factored into the 2013-14 budget.

The township has reported that 902 tax appeals were made in 2012, 820 of which were residential, and as a result, the Committee is considering a reassessment, Mayor David Most said.

A reevaluation of Lacey was performed in 2009, not by the choice of the township, Most said.

“That comes from the state and the county because a gap develops over time and they want to make sure you’re paying your fair share,” he said. “When your town is at a very high value, your tax rate is low and when your town is at a low value, your tax rate is higher.”

When tax appeals are made, the township provides a service through that process and resources are increased to defend those appeals, he said. Approximately $30,000 is allotted in the budget for tax appeals yearly.

Once the process is completed, the township has to make the adjustments, he said.

“The end game here, what do you think we put this all on?” Most said. “We include all those appeals back into the tax rate.”

Because there has been a significant increase in tax appeals, the Committee is considering the reassessment, which could cost the township approximately $200,000.

“There’s a lot more productive things we can invest in this town with those pennies than it is with appeals,” Most said. “I’m not advocating people not to appeal their taxes if they feel they’re being treated unfairly, all I’m saying is there comes a time when you have to take action as a Committee in order to calibrate everything.”

On top of the tax appeals, after homeowners with damage filed for reassessment.

That’s $615,288 in lost revenue to the township for the 2013-14 budget cycle. Most has previously stated that residents can expect to see a tax hike, although within the confines of the state-mandated cap.

“We can’t have this bleeding going on in our community,” Most said. “Bottom line is we have to stop it because the taxpayer is paying for all these services. It really doesn’t make much sense to me.”

The deadline to file a tax appeal on the 2013 assessment is Monday, April 1. As of March 26, 550 appeals were made.

“The economic times are hard for everyone. People living on fixed incomes and those with severe storm damage and no use of their homes cannot afford to be paying taxes on assessed values that are inflated,” said resident Regina Discenza in a Letter to the Editor. Discenza frequently advocates for residents to file tax appeals at township Committee meetings.

Appeal forms are available at the County Connection in the Ocean County Mall, the Northern Ocean County Resource Center at 255 4th Street in Lakewood and the Southern Ocean County Resource Center at 179 S. Main St. in Manahawkin.

For more information, call the Ocean County Tax Board at 732-929-2008.