Harvest festival on Main Avenue in Ocean Grove, NJ. Paul Goldfinger photo
This is the 10th year anniversary of this post, and the conclusion is still true, although some of the quality of life items have since changed. Can you tell us which to add now in 2024?
Also we now know that real estate appraisals in town may be unfair with some CMA properties being appraised too low. That allegation is currently being investigated.
2014: I know some contemporaries of mine who have moved from New Jersey because the property taxes are lower out of state. Other complaints about Jersey include our taxing pensions and our higher cost of living, including the cost of housing.
In the case of Ocean Grove, Grovarians sometimes say that our property taxes are higher than the rest of Neptune and that the discrepancy is unfair. They say that we are a “cash cow” and that we would have lower taxes if we were separate from Neptune.
But an independent Ocean Grove is not in the cards, and our homes have higher appraised values, in many cases, because we live at the seashore and not inland. As the realtors say, “Location, location, location.”
There is a high level of demand for our houses because this town is unique and has a fine quality of life including walks on the beach, a swim in the Atlantic, the safety of our children, the peaceful/spiritual/ quietude of the town, the Victorian beauty of our homes, the porch culture, the friendly neighbors, the conversations on Main, the quaint shops downtown, a burger at Nagles, an ice-cream at Days, sidewalk entertainment in summer, a bus into New York, a walk to the GA at twilight on a Saturday night for a big-time show, a train station a few blocks away, a flea market on the Pathway, an ice cream social at the Pavilion, summer band concerts on our new boardwalk, a walk to the GA on Sundays to hear amazing preachers, a stroll to another world in Asbury Park via the Casino, etc, etc.
It seems reasonable to believe that one’s lifestyle in a community is part of what we pay for in our property taxes and our rentals. Isn’t that true? Ain’t cha glad?
Oh, we’re not moving. No way!
Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net
DAVID JOHANSEN from the film The Aviator
Ok, I just answered my own question. I just went to Zillow and compared houses in the first and 8th blocks from the beach. The reported taxes paid vs. the tax assessment yielded the same rate.
Myth busted!
Taxes are higher for houses close to or on Ocean Avenue. That is because the land is valued higher.
Question: Are the homes in OG taxed only on their straight appraised value — or is there a multiplier applied for homes that are, for example, in the first two beach blocks, vs. homes 6-8 blocks from the beach? Said another way, are homes very near the beach taxed at a rate higher than their assessed value would dictate? Someone told me this and I was wondering if its true. If true, then we are being treated as a cash cow.
Last Neptune Township Committee meeting I attended, the workshop session spent entire time reviewing new projects to finance. Equal time for possible expense reductions would be at least more entertaining.
Thank you Better—you accepted our challenge and came up with a constructive reply. We don’t know if the Committee members look at citizen comments on BF, but they really should, even if they don’t want to comment themselves—which is an unfortunate reality.
The Township ought to find ways to use the Internet more for exchanges of ideas and communication with the citizens. —Paul
Well to begin with, we could cut spending. Stop buying marinas, building pools in high schools (Rumson doesn’t have one), re-facing business fronts at the taxpayers expense, sending a street cleaner to drive down the middle of the road, spending money on streetscapes, building a new senior center when the old one appeared to working just fine and the list goes on. In essence, Neptune township and the school system have to do what homeowners do – stop spending money they don’t have.
Better: There really is nothing to disagree with; it’s reality. If you live in a town, for example Summit or Mendham, with expensive homes, excellent schools, superb public services, amazing libraries, lovely parks, etc. then your taxes will likely be higher than towns that aren’t so fine.
In Ocean Grove, we live in Neptune Twp where there are a fair number of poor people who require enhanced public services, especially in the schools, to help keep them afloat. So that is another factor that may contribute to higher taxes in areas of Neptune like OG, and that makes our situation somewhat different from typical suburban middle-class towns.
If a person on fixed income (and we have quite a few retirees in OG) feels cheated by the situation, than that may be understandable, but the only solution there is is for the town to give them a tax break, but then everybody else’s tax will rise accordingly, so it won’t happen. Better, since you brought up the subject, do you have a solution?
I would wager a bet that people on fixed incomes and no desire to move from the homes they’ve lived in for many years would disagree.