Tax Assessor Bernard Haney and the Deputy Tax Assessor A. Dawn Crozier recovering after spending an hour with clueless Blogfinger reporter.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Bernard C. Haney, CTA, was going to explain to Blogfinger why the new tax calculation system would be better for everyone in Monmouth County, including Ocean Grove. But in order to get there, Bernie had to time travel to 1988 in the Grove, when the town was a disheveled mess (“bad shape”).
There were about 30 rooming houses, plus run down hotels and multi-family dwellings. Many homes were rented, and there were crime issues including drug sales. The average house was worth about $60,000, and an ocean front condo could be had for $30,000. As noted in a recent Blogfinger review, there were other issues including the mental patients who comprised about 10% of the population and were sleeping on benches and walking around town mumbling. (No, those were not Blogfinger reporters. We weren’t born yet)
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Bernie wasn’t here then, but our review (above) told the story of how a dramatic turnaround developed in the 1990’s, led by the activist OGHOA. Another “huge” factor was the Historic Register designations achieved by a group led by OG historian Ted Bell. Also there was the “renaissance” of the Main Avenue commercial district.
Between the late 1990’s and 2003, Bernie said, “The world had shifted.” By 2003, the crappy rooming houses were gone, an average house was now worth about $500,000 based on the latest re-evaluations, the real estate marketplace was much improved (“sky rocketing,”) and many homes were being converted to single family by motivated and optimistic buyers who had pride of ownership. OG houses became “very desirable.”
So the higher valuations were the good news, but there was an unpleasant flip side:
Many of the homeowners had purchased at very low prices and now their valuations were much higher. Bernie says, “It had become an entirely different place to be.” Home owners found themselves living in an “urban township” with big expenses and a high tax rate. As a result of all this, some homeowners found their taxes rising horribly—some tripling or even quadrupling in locations such as Ocean Avenue or on Ocean Pathway.
So now, in 2014, we have a new tax system which, according to Bernie, will prevent such sudden and dramatic tax changes from happening in the future. The new process begins now in preparation for 2015 with re-evaluations having begun already.
The current goal is for the entire county to be at 100% valuation for the 2015 tax calculations. But in Ocean Grove, we are already at 82-85%, so “it won’t be a heavy lift” to reach 100%. By November, the Township will have a complete but preliminary ratable total, so preliminary tax bills will be ready for 2015.
Tax appeals will be evaluated in the winter before the final tax bills are determined. If someone wins an appeal and gets their taxes lowered, those adjustments will be figured in for the last two quarters of 2015.
For the next 5 years starting 2015, 20% of the houses will be inspected each year, so you can expect a “knock on the door” once every five years. But also, reassessments will be calculated every year by Mr. Haney’s office and adjustments made in valuations according to real estate sales. He doesn’t see any dramatic changes occurring yearly.
Bernie concludes, regarding the new system, that “the benefits outweigh the detriments.” Over the next few years things may get “touchy” as all 52 towns “get up to speed.”
Editor’s note: . You will have a chance to hear Bernie discuss the situation in a month when he appears at the July 26 OGHOA meeting.
Meanwhile make corrections, comments and pose questions here, on Blogfinger. And thanks to Mr Bernard Haney, a gentleman, who was willing to spell it all out for me, knowing he will have to to go over the same stuff again and again. Yikes!!
Oh and lets not forget thanks to the Deputy Assessor A. Dawn Crozier, CTA, who sat in on our meeting, providing wisdom and someone to look at besides Bernie. She and I are on a first initial basis. —-PG
But I had a ball meeting with Bernie and A. Dawn. This song is “After the Ball is Over” by the Uri Caine Ensemble.
