Property Revaluation Approaches For Caldwell Homeowners

The march towards a property revaluation in Caldwell continues.

During their June 4 public meeting, the Caldwell Borough Council approved an emergency appropriation to fund a revaluation of all properties in the municipality, laying the groundwork for a project that Mayor Ann Dassing expects to be completed by the end of the year.

As Dassing explained to Patch:

“Re-evaluation means that the company we hired will visit every property in Caldwell and assign a value to it based on location, house or building size and a variety of other factors. At the end of the process we will have a total number that the town is worth... This is used for property tax purposes.”

Essex County mandates that the process be done every 10 years, Dassing said.

The council’s emergency resolution on June 4 approved a contract with Professional Property Appraisers of Cinnaminson, which will perform the revaluation for $177,558.

“The process is usually revenue neutral and since the last one was done in 2005, which was the height of the market, I don’t think we will see many increases… but it’s hard to really know that until we have gone through it,” Dassing told Patch.

Dassing added that the revaluation of 2005 was the first performed in “over a couple of decades,” which may be one reason that many homes in Caldwell saw major increases in value that year.

Borough Administrator Paul Carelli did not return multiple phone calls and an email seeking comment for this article.

A FAIR TAX BURDEN

According to the NJ Department of the Treasury website, a revaluation should seek to spread the tax burden equitably within a municipality.

“Real property must be assessed at the same standard of value to ensure that every property owner is paying his or her fair share of the property tax. For example, two properties having essentially the same market value should be paying essentially the same amount in property taxes.”

The revaluation firm is required to mail each taxpayer a notice advising him of the new appraised value prior to the new value being officially listed on a tax list, according to the state website.

This usually occurs after November 10 and prior to December 31.

Property owners who disagree with the new assessed value of their homes can file an appeal with Essex County.

For more information about the revaluation process and what to expect as a homeowner, click here.

Send Caldwell area news tips and photos to eric.kiefer@patch.com