Property Tax Increase Concerns Broken Down By Hillsborough Officials

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — After residents raised concerns about rising property tax bills, Hillsborough Mayor Catherine Payne sat down with Somerset County Tax Administrator Charles Eader and township Tax Assessor Debra Blaney to break down school taxes, assessments and how local tax bills are calculated.

"We hear you. We understand you. And ultimately we all pay the same taxes," said Payne in a township video to residents.

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Payne started by addressing residents' comments from the July 28 meeting, who asked why the Township Committee approved an increase tied to the Board of Education budget.

Payne noted that the Board of Education is "a separate bucket from the municipality."

Eader explained how the County calculates the taxes or the tax rate.

"We take the assessed value of your property, and we divide it by the levies that are given to us by all of the taxing entities, whether it be the school, the county, the police, the parks, the fire, open space, all of that," Eader said.

He said the result is a tax rate applied to each property assessment.

"It's all a math exercise," Eader said.

He also said, "It's only when the levies increase that you see an increase in your taxes."

Payne then summarized the point, saying, "So it's important to understand it's the levy, not the assessment."

Eader said keeping assessments close to market value helps preserve uniformity so residents pay their fair share.

He said Somerset County has 16 towns in an annual reassessment program and five that are not.

According to Eader, Somerset County "stands at the pinnacle" in New Jersey for efficiency and uniformity, and the annual reassessment program is a major reason.

Montgomery is among the towns not in that program, Eader said.

He said the state and county have ordered those five towns to move to annual reassessment because their ratios and uniformity standards had worsened.

He also said Montgomery's effective tax rates are similar to Hillsborough's now, but a full reevaluation is costly.

Eader said reevaluation costs have risen from about $35 per line item two years ago to about $150 per line item, and Hillsborough has more than 15,000 taxable properties.

Blaney said residents who want to challenge an assessment should watch for a white card in the mail around the end of February or beginning of March.

She said property owners then have until May 1 to file an appeal, with hearings typically held in June before the county tax board.

Blaney also said appeals cannot be based simply on a higher tax bill.

"You can't file an appeal based on what your taxes are," she said.

Instead, she said residents need comparable sales showing similar homes sold for less than their assessment. Blaney added that Hillsborough gets few appeals because current sale prices often support the assessed values.

Eader said about 60 percent of a tax bill goes to schools, and residents concerned about rising taxes should follow the taxing entities that set the levy.

To watch the full conversation, see below:

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