Assessment Demonstration Program to begin in tax year 2014

In march 2013, Gov. Christie signed into law chapter 15 P.L 2013 known as Assessment Demonstration Program to begin in tax year 2014. The Monmouth board of Taxation and the Monmouth County of Assessors has decided to be the first in the state to take on this cost saving project. Many changes will be put in place over the next FIVE years.

Annual Assessment Overview

The primary purpose of the program is to demonstrate a more cost effective and accurate process of property assessment administration for New Jersey.

1. Appeal Calendar

Current Taxation Calendar VS Proposed Taxation Calendar

2.Annual Assessment Revision

The Demonstration program proposes changes that would proved the Assessor with both the authority and the requirement for the annual review and revision of all properties within the jurisdiction. Increased accuracy in assessments will greatly reduce the exposure losses in appeals and build public confidence in fairness of the system. Such requirements are also intended to reduce frequency of the need for revaluation or reassessment.

 

Annual Qualified Reassessments and
5 year Internal Inspections

List of Towns where the 20% revaluation starts and towns that are being reevaluated.

• Improve the accuracy of the annual assessments the current model of "10 Year Revaluation" will be replaced by "Annual Qualified Reassessments" supported by "5 Year Internal Inspection" contracts.
• Revaluation service is comprise of  inspection, valuation and appeal-defense. Under the new "Annual Qualified Reassessments"  model the assessor will be responsible for valuation and appeal defense. ( outside firms to do inspections with geo-coded tablets)
• Each municipality will enter into a 5 year contract (3 years wit h2, 1-year options) for the "Internal inspections of 20% of all line items". This service will presumably be offere by the current revaluation firms. Every 5 years 100% of the properties will be internally inspected which is twice that of the current revaluation model.
• The assessors annual qualified reassessment, supported by the outside internal inspection model, is intended to be a sustainable replacement for all future revaluations.

3. Revision Compliance

• The demonstration program provides the power to compel the implementation of revaluation, reassessment, compliance plan and maintenance programs. By providing the ability to expedite the implementation of the revaluation process there will be greater precision in the timely assignment of the individual tax liabilities putting an end to the protracted over/under payment of taxes.
• The authority to compel facilitates the implementation plan for annual qualified assessments.
• In accordance with the State approved implementation schedule, all Monmouth County towns will be performing annual qualified reassessment supported by 5 year internal inspection programs in the year 2018.

4. Assessment Standardization and Technology Details

• This Demonstration program proposes changes that will provide enhanced system administration by requiring that ALL municipalities within the county utilize the same property assessment software.
• As a state certified vendor Monmouth county has offered shared services to all municipalities since 1996
• In accordance all 53 municipalities will participate in the shared service program beginning 2014.
• Transparency  Posting of public documents under the OPR website:
  
  http://oprs.co.monmouth.nj.us
• Integration with Monmouth county GIS
• Expansion of the Online Appeal Portal
  https://secure.njappealonline.com
• Adopted procedures utilizing Statistical Analytics software

Understanding the building blocks for a successful property assessment tax appeal

emphasizing 2014 Property Assessment change details.

ATTENTION MONMOUTH COUNTY NJ

PROPERTY OWNERS
ASSESSMENT APPEAL APPLICATION DEADLINE

JANUARY 15 2014

(PREVIOUSLY THE DEADLINE WAS APRIL 15)

 

In march 2013, Gov. Christie signed into law chapter 15 P.L 2013 known as Assessment demonstration Program to begin in tax year 2014. The Monmouth board of Taxation and the Monmouth County of Assessors has decided to be the first in the state to take on this cost saving project. Many changes will be put in place over the next FIVE years. 

1. Remember the Assessor is ALWAYS right about your assessment unless you want to lose.
2. Remember that your assessment was created on October 1st of last year. Example October 1st 2012 for the year 2013.
3. Alwys find 3 good reasonable sales and find those closed  sales between January and December of last year. Example 2012 for tax year 2013.
4. Remember NOT to talk about your neighbor's assessment unless you want to lose. 1 strike
5. Rember NOT to mention your own property taxes unless you want to lose. 2 strikes
6. Breaking up your assessment between land and building is a sure way to weaken your case for reduction. 3 strikes
7. While you may not rest on the 7th day, the Assessor does!
8. consider if you are the expert or if you NEED an expert (appraiser etc) . Experts have boundaries and lend credence to the sales.
9. Contrary to what you may think, you may need an Attorney, especially if you are an LLC or Corp. Any and ALL experts MUST be with you at the meeting!
10. Chapter 123 - is a "cautionary tale" of potentially winning the battle but losing the War.
11. Consider filing your appeal and documentation Online.
12. ALWAYS BE CONFIDENT! Do not be distracted and always give an honest courteous response.
13. ALWAYS Direct your remarks and responses to the Commissioner, not necessarily to the Assessor, Attorney or the Representative from the Revaluation company.
14. Always start your testimony by describing you house, land, or building. Example: the style, how many bedrooms, how many baths, basement/no basement, garage/no garage, deck, fireplace, air conditioning, are you on a busy street or not, do you have a water view or are you on the waterfront, the size of your lot - describe the condition of your home in terms of good, average, fair or poor.
15. BE PREPARED to tell the Commissioner in a sentence or two why your Assessment does not represent Market Value.
16. COMPARE and describe the closed comparable Sales you selected ending withthe closed price and date it closed
17. Confidently End with YOUR Opinion of what you believe the value of your property should be based upon your comparable sales information which you presented.