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Tax Court Denies City’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Prosecution
The Tax Court recently denied a motion by the City of Ventnor to dismiss an appeal brought by a property owner from a judgment of the Atlantic County Board of Taxation. The City claimed the owner failed to prosecute the tax appeal before the County Board when its counsel appeared, but presented no evidence and... Read More
Doughnut and Coffee With Reversal and Remand
The Appellate Division reversed and remanded a decision of the Tax Court that affirmed the assessment on a Dunkin Donuts property in the City of Elizabeth. The appellate court found that the lower court erred by relying on evidence not in the record. Plaintiff’s appraiser utilized the income capitalization approach to appraise the property. In... Read More
Fraternity’s creative arguments no match for Chapter 91
Perhaps not since Otter’s impassioned plea to keep Delta House from being kicked off campus in the 1978 classic movie, Animal House, has a fraternity presented such a creative argument. Of course, in Gamma-Upsilon Alumni Ass’n of Kappa Sigma, Inc. v. City of New Brunswick, a recent published opinion of the New Jersey Tax Court, seasoned... Read More
Will it be strike 3 for cost estimating software in the NJ Tax Court? Stay tuned.
In a recent decision, ML Plainsboro Ltd Partnership v. Township of Plainsboro, the Presiding Judge of the New Jersey Tax Court denied a taxpayer’s motion to strike the opinion of the municipality’s appraiser who relied upon cost estimating software to determine reproduction costs as part of a cost approach analysis. While this would appear to... Read More
Omitted Assessment Tossed — “Error” in Setting Value Not an Erroneous Omission
New Jersey’s omitted assessment law allows a municipal tax assessor to go back one year in the event an assessment on a property was inadvertently omitted from the tax rolls (Yes, it does happen. I once had a client that owned an office building that was assessed at over $4 million for which the assessment was simply... Read More
Rite Aid Goes the Wrong Way In Tax Appeal
In a recent opinion the New Jersey Tax Court affirmed the assessment on a Rite Aid pharmacy for tax years 2009 and 2010 after rejecting every aspect of the testimony offered by its appraiser. The Court found that the appraiser for the Borough of Roselle offered a more credible opinion of value. Rite Aid’s appraiser... Read More
To Survive in NJ Tax Court – Forget Trust, Just Verify
In yet another opinion affirming a local property tax assessment, the New Jersey Tax Court found insufficient data upon which it could make a determination of value. In the unreported decision of VBV Realty LLC v. Scotch Plains Township, issued earlier this month (for copy of decision click here), the court considered a challenge to... Read More
Déjà vu all over again – Taxpayer fails to overcome presumption of correctness.
The New Jersey Tax Court recently issued another opinion finding that a taxpayer failed to overcome the presumption of correctness that attaches to a real property tax assessment. While we have, in the past, expressed frustration with the seemingly endless run of decisions that raise the bar for taxpayers, the Court had little choice here. ... Read More
Sales Approach Rejected in Valuing Rental Property
In reviewing a recent decision by the Honorable Patrick DeAlmeida, the Presiding Judge of the New Jersey Tax Court, the first thing that jumps out is the large reductions — approximate $1.84 million in reduced assessments for each of the years under appeal. The appeal involved a free-standing Barnes & Noble store in Evesham Township brought by the retailer, a... Read More
Former Governor weighs in on property tax exemptions
In a recent opinion piece, former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean criticized the decision of the New Jersey Tax Court that found Morristown Memorial Hospital is a for-profit enterprise and upheld the denial of a local property tax exemption on all but a few areas of the hospital’s facilities. Governor Kean referred to the decision... Read More
