Manalapan NJ Homes will be Reassessed, Township is Losing Tax Appeals

Manalapan NJ Homes will be Reassessed, Township Losing Tax Appeals

In the face of a real estate market that has seen property values drop significantly over the past several years, Manalapan officials have decided to have all properties in town reassessed.

A reassessment is different from a revaluation, which the township conducted several years ago, in that a representative from an appraisal company will not be inspecting the inside of homes, according to township officials.

Manalapan will be using the services of Professional Property Appraisers Inc., of Delran, to conduct the reassessment. The firm will provide a reassessment of all vacant land, residential properties, regular farmland, qualified farmland, commercial and industrial properties, and exempt properties in Manalapan.

Manalapan will pay Professional Property Appraisers Inc. a fee not to exceed $200,000 and the work must be completed in 2009, according to the resolution passed by the committee.

The purpose of a reassessment is to bring the assessed value of a property to its current market value, Manalapan Mayor Richard Klauber said.

During the Oct. 14 meeting of the Township Committee, Klauber announced the decision to have all of the properties in Manalapan reassessed.

"Our initial revaluation was conducted at the height of the real estate market, and many homes in Manalapan are now assessed at more than what they would sell for," Klauber said. "We have had a number of tax appeals and we have spent a large amount of money defending those appeals."

The mayor said when a property owner wins an appeal and has his taxes lowered, the township loses part of its revenue stream and other taxpayers must make up the difference.

"We are looking to stop losing these tax appeals. We've gotten approval from the county to go forward. We need approval from the state to go forward. If we don't get that, we can't go forward with the reassessment," the mayor said.

Manalapan underwent a townwide revaluation in 2007 and the value of an average home in the township was set at $429,600. Some homes are assessed at less than that amount and some homes are assessed at more than that amount.

The assessed value of a home determines how much the owner will pay in property taxes to support the operation of schools and government.

He said an individual homeowner may not see a change in the total amount of property taxes he pays after the assessed value of the home and the tax rates are readjusted.

The reassessment will bring the properties in Manalapan to a value in line with current market prices.