Millburn Property Revaluation Almost Done: Will Your Taxes Rise?

MILLBURN, NJ — If you’re a homeowner in Millburn, the chances are good that you’ve already been approached about this year's property revaluation.

According to the municipal website, a second round of letters from Appraisal Systems were sent to residents on Dec. 12 to schedule interior home evaluations for the effort, which will revalue all property - including residential and commercial - for the 2017 tax year to “ensure uniform and equitable assessments.”

About two-thirds of the town has been inspected and the remaining sites are expected to be completed by the end of the year, municipal officials stated on Nov. 9.

Learn more about the 2017 revaluation here.

Residential property owners in Millburn shoulder over four-fifths of the tax burden, according to data released in the 2015 municipal budget summary. Altogether, the 6,217 parcels of residential property in Millburn are valued at $6.71 billion, making them worth 82.32 percent of the total municipal tax base.

• See related article: Who Is Paying Millburn's Taxes?

WHAT IS A PROPERTY REVALUATION?

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.”

“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.

Learn more about property revaluations in New Jersey here.

Photo: Flickr Commons

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