Drakalogia web site.
TO THE EDITOR:
I thought Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor but it seems that the Neptune appraisers do it the other way around!
I heard there have been some major discrepancies in the tax assessments for OG so I checked the Monmouth County Tax Search System and what I heard appeared to be true. Numerous Ocean front properties and Pathway homes, particularly in the first block, are literally assessed at half of what they are worth, meaning those homeowners are paying half the amount of taxes they should be.
The numbers are just shocking when one house is priced at half the value of the neighboring house ,yet the under assessed home is dramatically more valuable.
Even more startling is that those homes, despite sitting on the most valuable locations with top-of-the-line renovations are assessed below homes that are multiple blocks back from Ocean Avenue and the Pathway.
I always subscribed to the old adage “location, location, location” when valuing real estate, but it seems here that the Neptune appraisals take into consideration the professional occupation homeowners when assessing what to calculate for their real estate taxes.
So if you are in anyway associated with the real estate business or who knows, maybe politics, then are different valuation methods applied?
I would be thrilled to hear what others think about this subject!
JOE GROVE, OCEAN GROVE, NJ
We do not know who the writer is.
September 1, 2017.
Editor’s note: “Joe Grove” sent this. He would not give his real name or his email address. Nor did he provide any documentation to back up his suspicions. Nevertheless, he is permitted to raise some questions on Blogfinger, and our readers can decide if there might be some merit to his allegations.
FYI, the man in charge of the Neptune Township Tax Assessor’s office is Bernard Haney. He has refused to speak to Blogfinger in the last couple of years.
One time he hid in his office when we came to interview him and he would not come out, sending some flunkies instead.
You can reach him at the Mother Ship, extension 285.
SPRINGER AND CAGLE. From their Acoustic Project.
To Jane Grove who stated that “You will never win…”
I’ve won two appeals and had my assessment reduced materially. Each time I was represented by an attorney with Ansell Grimm; they charge you only if they win your appeal.
We are a group of seven residents using the Joe and Jane and Family Grove pseudonyms.
We are concerned by what the Neptune tax appraisers seem to be doing; we believe they are giving favors to certain residents.
We would like others to investigate and draw their own conclusions.
Other property tax payers can do what we did and look up the taxes for Ocean Avenue properties and Pathway properties. Then they will see that some homes are under-taxed—-often owned by developers, realtors and political types.
The appeals process is rigged. You will never win and the standard for six months etc is laughable.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We don’t know if this comment is written by the same person (Jane Grove this time) who sent the Letter to the Editor, signed in as “Joe Grove.” There are similarities.
Once again, the allegations do not come with documentation.
For repeat commenters, please continue using the same pseudonym for clarity. Playing games will disqualify your comments.
There are inconsistencies in every town where seemingly similar houses located nearby to one another have grossly different assessed valuations for both the land and improvements. Obviously homeowners can appeal their assessed values but they may only cite comparable properties that sold within the prior six months as evidence to support their claim. The fact that a similar property is assessed materially less than yours will not be considered by the Appeals Board unless that property sold and closed within the prior six months. Maybe not completely fair, but that is how the appeals process works in NJ.