BLOG: Property Tax Appeal
Reasonableness Hearing Requires Access to Assessor’s Files
In a recent appeal, the Borough of Lincoln Park moved to dismiss a property owner’s 2012 tax appeal after the Borough claimed the owner failed to respond to a “Chapter 91” request for income and expense information. Chapter 91, N.J.S.A. 54:4-34, allows a municipal tax assessor to request income and expense information to use in... Read More
Township’s Error Saves Taxpayer from Tax Increase
The owner of a mobile home park in Fairfield Township, Cumberland County, challenged the 2011 and 2012 tax assessments on the park in the Tax Court following a Township-wide revaluation. The Township filed a “cross complaint” alleging that it reserved its rights to apply added assessments for each of the tax years. The mobile home... Read More
Pay Now, Litigate Later Upheld
New Jersey law requires that property taxes must be paid as a prerequisite to filing an appeal before the Tax Court. The principle that taxes must be paid first is to insure that municipal reviews are not interrupted while tax appeals are litigated by the parties. Municipalities take advantage of this requirement to seek dismissal... Read More
Secretly Recorded Phone Conversation Fails to Support New Trial Claim
A very routine tax appeal trial took a very unusual turn after entry of judgment in the matter. Plaintiff filed a tax appeal on his single family home in Barnegat Township before the Ocean County Board of Taxation, which reduced his assessment from $300,000 to $283,000. Plaintiff then appealed to the Tax Court challenging the... Read More
A Tale of Two Cities . . . Wanting to Tax the Same Property
In a recent appeal, the property owner – a condominium association – filed a tax appeal for its property which straddles the municipal boundaries of South Orange and Maplewood. The condominiums are located on the Maplewood side of the boundary line, and a 1.46 acre parcel containing a driveway, shrubbery, and plantings are located on... Read More
Tax Court: Town’s Assessment of Beach Property is a “Lot” of Baloney!
A recent decision by New Jersey Tax Court Presiding Judge Patrick DeAlmeida, highlighted the lack of credibility of a creative valuation approach by the Borough of Bay Head. The appeal concerned a large single family residence with ocean views, for which scant comparable sales evidence existed due to the unique nature of the 5,000 square... Read More
To Conquer, Taxpayer Must Divide
A New Jersey appellate court recently affirmed the decision of Presiding Tax Court Judge Patrick DeAlmeida, in which the Tax Court affirmed multi-year assessments on six commercial condominium units owned by the same party. The units were located in a five-story building in the Township of Lyndhurst, all of which were owned by the taxpayer,... Read More
Harrison’s defense denies Red Bulls for a third time
The owner of Red Bull Arena is unable to break through Harrison’s defense in its pursuit of a property tax exemption for its arena that is home to the New York Red Bulls Soccer Club. In two separate 2012 opinions dealing with the 2010 (see Red Card for Red Bull Soccer Stadium) and 2011 (see Red... Read More
A Taxpayer’s Burden
In Hertrich v. Township of Middletown, a copy of which may be found here, the plaintiff challenged the assessments for tax years 2009 through 2013 on Chevrolet car dealership located on Route 35 in Middletown. While the appraisal experts for the plaintiff and the defendant agreed that the optimal size of an automobile dealership is... Read More
No Relief for Castle on the Sand
In this appeal challenging the assessment of an 8,772 sf residence on nearly 2 acres overlooking the Atlantic Ocean with 8 bedrooms, 6 full and 2 half baths, solarium, salon, billiard room, exercise room, limestone patios, a pool and two pool houses, the New Jersey Tax Court found that the owner lacked one thing: credible... Read More
