Township Officials to Meet With County Over Property Reassessment Concerns

Barnegat officials said they’re confident they’ll soon reach an agreement with the county tax office over what the township says is a flawed property tax assessment policy that’s costing the township millions.

The Barnegat Township Committee to withhold tax payments to the county until officials stepped up to help them resolve their issues with how properties are assessed in Barnegat.

Committeeman Marty Lisella and Township Administrator David Breeden met with Ocean County Administrator Carl Block this week, and both parties said they’re working to set up a meeting to address the township’s frustrations.

At issue is the rising number of tax appeals filed by Barnegat residents whose actual home values have fallen below the assessed value that their tax bill is based on. Those appeals cost Barnegat hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue each year, and lead to an unequal distribution of the tax burden within the township.

“Right now, the property tax system in New Jersey is based on a couple of assumptions, one of them being that property values would never decrease,” said Breeden. “When they do, there’s no quick and easy fix. You have to go through a costly and time-consuming assessment.”

In the meantime, said Lisella, tax appeals from disgruntled homeowners are wreaking havoc on the budget.

“This will be an ongoing problem for us if we can’t correct it right now,” said Lisella, a real estate agent who is spearheading the effort to get the county tax officials on board with reforms. “We will be faced with appeals every year with the seesawing system we have in the town right now.”

The problem, say Barnegat officials, is that the county tax board has in the past refused to let the township conduct reassessments their way. The best way to make sure assessed value keeps up with market value, said Lisella, is to have a someone who knows the town well and understands market conditions conduct in-house assessments on about a yearly basis, at least until the market stabilizes.

It’s cheaper that way too, said Breeden, pointing to the $25,000 that Lower Township in Cape May County recently spent on a similar reassessment.

But the county has refused to approve such a plan in the past, officials said, requiring Barnegat to bring in an outside consultant for a costly partial reassessment last year.

“If we ask and we ask and we ask, and we’re turned down and we’re turned down and we’re turned down, what else can we do but say somebody’s got to listen to us, because you’re killing Barnegat?” said Committeeman Al Bille, also a real estate agent. “We’re spending more on assessments than we are on infrastructure.”

But Block, the county administrator, said Barnegat officials’ frustrations are misplaced. The county government has no control over the property tax reassessment process, he said, because the county tax board answers only to the state.

“The guidelines are set by the State Division of Taxation,” said Block. “They have to get approved, and there is a process to follow.”

If Lower Township got its way and instituted quicker, cheaper, more frequent reassessments, Block said he assumes their plan met state guidelines, “which is why (Barnegat officials) need to sit down with the state and go over the options they might have.”

But for now, he said, he was happy to ask Barbara Raney, who is filling in for County Tax Administrator Lawrence Ozzie Vituscka while Vituscka is on medical leave, to sit down with Breeden and the Barnegat committeemen.

“Certainly as a former local official, I’d support any reform that would help simplify the process,” said Block, the former Stafford Township mayor, but “the county has no jurisdiction in setting the rules and making the plans.”

Still, said Breeden, the committee’s vote to refuse to pay up until the county at least acknowledged the problem had the desired effect.

“It got their attention,” he said.