Livingston Revaluation Continues; Officials Hold Town Meetings

LIVINGSTON, NJ — As Livingston residents await the results of the town's ongoing revaluation, municipal officials continue to reach out to property owners who may – or may not – see changes to their local tax bills.

Livingston Township and Appraisal Systems, Inc. (ASI) recently held two public forums at the Livingston Senior/Community Center on February 27 and March 6, 2019. The meetings were open to the public and gave residents the opportunity to learn more and ask questions about the ongoing property revaluation in Livingston.

• See related article: Livingston Property Owners Prepare For Town-Wide Revaluation

Each meeting consisted of the same presentation by ASI followed by a Q&A session about the revaluation. Watch a video taken at the Feb. 27 forum here, via Livingston Television (LTV).

Pursuant to state law, Livingston Township was ordered by the Essex County Board of Taxation to undertake a town-wide revaluation. The new valuations take effect in 2020, municipal officials previously stated.

The township is one of several in the area that was recently ordered to conduct a property revaluation by the Essex County Board of Taxation. Other Essex County towns that have conducted revaluations in the past few years include Caldwell, Belleville, Millburn and Verona.

According to the New Jersey Treasury Department, a property revaluation is a program undertaken by a municipality to appraise all real property within the taxing district according to its "full and fair value."

>> Learn more about property revaluations in New Jersey here

"A revaluation program seeks to spread the tax burden equitably within a municipality," the NJ Treasury Department states. "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."

Although almost all properties' values rise during a revaluation, it doesn't necessarily mean that all property taxes will increase, state officials say.

"You might now be thinking, 'How can my assessment increase and my taxes not go up?'" state officials explain. "Remember, assessments are merely a base used to apportion the tax burden. The tax burden is the amount that your municipality must raise for the operation of county and local government and support of the school system."

During a revaluation, assessors visit individual homes and conduct both inside and outside inspections. Property owners who disagree with the eventual assessed value of their homes can arrange an informal hearing or file an appeal with the County Board of Taxation.

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