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Professional Property Appraisers, the firm hired by the township to conduct the required reassessment, has began mailing letters to residents informing them of the new property value. The letters also include an estimate of their annual taxes for 2022, as well as a comparison to their assessment and taxes for 2021.
Based on the 2021 tax rate, some residents' expected 2022 taxes show a large increase. However, Hill said the estimate does not take into account the work that the township will have to conduct after it receives the final tally of all the additional assessments.
The township was required to undertake a property reassessment by the
Ocean County Board of Taxation and the state Attorney General's office because property assessments had fallen below 85 percent of their current value, according to Hill.
Due to staffing concerns in the town's tax assessor's office and delays in receiving the tax map from the state, the township was granted a one-year extension before the pandemic hit. According to the township schedule on the reassessment, a second one-year extension was granted in April 2020, but the county tax board refused to consider a third.
According to Hill, the last revaluation occurred in 2008, and the real estate market, particularly in the last two years, has driven property values higher. As a result, the township's ratables, or the total value of taxable property in the town, will increase.
The tax rate will alter once the town obtains that new ratable amount because the tax levy will be redistributed, Hill said.
"The ratable base will be divided by the amount (of the tax levy)," Hill explained.
Some people will see an increase in their municipal property taxes, while others will see a drop; usually, one-third of properties will see an increase in taxes, one-third will see a decrease, and one-third will see no change after a revaluation.
The new rate will not be finalized until July, and it will not appear on tax bills until the third and fourth quarters, according to Hill.
When a property's value rises, it's usually due to the amount of time since it was last assessed, as well as developments in the real estate market during that period.
There is still time for residents who believe their assessments are excessive to appeal.
Residents can schedule a meeting to challenge the revised assessment by calling Professional Property Appraisers at the phone number provided in the letter which is 800-410-5815 . The appraisal company can change the assessed value if the resident can offer persuasive proof that the assessment is too high, such as sales of similar properties in Toms River (usually in the same area as the resident's property), officials said.
The deadline for booking appointments with
Professional Property Appraisers is Feb. 4, according to Hill.
After consulting with Professional Property Appraisers, those who still believe their assessment is incorrect can file an appeal with the
Ocean County Board of Taxation. Those appeals must be filed by May 1, and comparable property sales must be provided.
The township, according to Hill, paid a fee to Professional Property Appraisers to handle the appeals this time. The town's attorneys were stuck reviewing 4,000 property tax appeals in 2008 when the company that performed the assessment vanished after it was completed.
He wants Ocean County to adopt Monmouth County's reassessment system, in which 20 percent of all property in a town is reassessed each year. This reduces the huge fluctuations in value by avoiding long gaps in property reassessments. The age of a town assessment is never more than five years.
Meanwhile, since the assessment letters were sent out, Toms River officials have received a lot of calls from locals, and Hill is advising them to be calm because there is still work to be done before the new tax rate is set.
"The bottom line is that you shouldn't panic," Hill remarked. "You have the opportunity to appeal."
