Post by BrianSullivan on Jan 26, 2010 7:16:03 GMT -5
newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2010-01-20/Front_Page/Freehold_cancels_special_reassessment_of_propertie.html
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — The borough will not be conducting a special reassessment of all properties in the municipality after all.
An ordinance that was adopted in September and authorized a special emergency appropriation of funds for the preparation and execution of a complete reassessment of all property in Freehold Borough has been canceled.
The Borough Council took the action to rescind the ordinance on Dec. 28. The $140,000 cost of the special reassessment will be saved.
The plan to reassess Freehold Borough’s properties was an effort to “level the playing field” due to a decline in property values since the previous reassessment in 2006, according to a previous interview with Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina.
In August, Bellina said that many residential and commercial property owners had appealed their property tax bills as a result of the decline in the economy that left their properties worth less than the amount at which they had been assessed in 2006.
A property’s assessed value is directly related to the amount of property taxes the owner pays to the municipality and other taxing entities (school districts, county, etc.). On Dec. 31, Freehold Borough Chief Financial Officer Nancy Forman told the News Transcript that representatives of the Monmouth County Tax Board reviewed the town’s properties as they do annually and determined that the county equalization figure is 90 percent for borough properties.
Forman said that means the sale price of homes is at about 90 percent of the current assessed value. Based on that equalization figure, municipal officials made the determination that a complete reassessment of borough properties was not warranted, she said
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — The borough will not be conducting a special reassessment of all properties in the municipality after all.
An ordinance that was adopted in September and authorized a special emergency appropriation of funds for the preparation and execution of a complete reassessment of all property in Freehold Borough has been canceled.
The Borough Council took the action to rescind the ordinance on Dec. 28. The $140,000 cost of the special reassessment will be saved.
The plan to reassess Freehold Borough’s properties was an effort to “level the playing field” due to a decline in property values since the previous reassessment in 2006, according to a previous interview with Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina.
In August, Bellina said that many residential and commercial property owners had appealed their property tax bills as a result of the decline in the economy that left their properties worth less than the amount at which they had been assessed in 2006.
A property’s assessed value is directly related to the amount of property taxes the owner pays to the municipality and other taxing entities (school districts, county, etc.). On Dec. 31, Freehold Borough Chief Financial Officer Nancy Forman told the News Transcript that representatives of the Monmouth County Tax Board reviewed the town’s properties as they do annually and determined that the county equalization figure is 90 percent for borough properties.
Forman said that means the sale price of homes is at about 90 percent of the current assessed value. Based on that equalization figure, municipal officials made the determination that a complete reassessment of borough properties was not warranted, she said