Our town had a re-evaluation of all its properties and my house and land went up from a total of $145,000 to a new appraisal of $487,000. I filed an appeal with the state, and while waiting, the township called and said they would reconsider and come out and look at the property again. They did, and offered me a new appraisal of $431,000. So they did take $56,000 off the value of the property. But, this still means I will be paying $200 MORE EACH MONTH for property taxes than I was paying during 2010.
The man that came out to look at the property told me I should take the new offer if one is offered. My question to all of you is this: Have anyone had any experience of appealing their appraisal with the state? Can the state say my property is worth more then the township's new appraisal? Is it better to just pay the extra $200 a month.....which does cut considerably into my income....
Also the township told me I only have 48 hours to decide if I will take the new appraisal......what the?
I have had experiences appealing property values in CA and AZ, and I must say that your situation seems very odd.
Based on your profile, I assume your property is in NJ, but I think the appeals process is likely largely the same across all the states.
First of all, you don't appeal to the state. You appeal to Assessor of the County in which the property resides. Each County has either an Assessor department or equlivalent that is responsible for determine property values. Once a property value has been "assessed", the property tax is calculated based on applicable property tax rate (i.e. based on a combination of "basic levy", or a fixe percentage, as well as your yearly share of the amount required to repay any debt issues by local jurisdictions). In general, (Assessed Value - Applicable Exemption) x Rate = Your Property Tax Amount. I am generalizing it a bit, but in general that's how it works.
If you decide to appeal, your first recourse is to appeal to the County Assessor. You usually have a certain period of time to file an appeal, from the date you received the assessment notice. You need to provide supporting information such as comps or recent sales as part of the appeal. Once you've appealed, the Assessor usually takes some time to process your appeal, and then notify you of their findings/decision. Some Counties will allow you to speak to the Assessor on the phone or in person to discussion their findings.
If you still disagree with the findings at that point, (at least in CA) you can appeal to something called Clerk of the Board/Assessment Appeals Board, which is an independent government body that hears and adjudicates disputes between the Assessor and the taxpayers. A hearing is conducted with both sides presenting their cases. The Board then makes a ruling that is binding.
While I don't know how NJ works, your County should have a body similar to Clerk of the Board/Assessment Appeals Board that independently adjudicates property value disputes. You need to get onto the County website and find out if such a body exists, and what policies govern the appeals process. Do the same for the Assessor department (or equivalent) in your County.
The bottom line is the "take it or leave" 48-hour offer seems odd. If I were you, I would not take the offer, but keep appealing (to the Board). The worst thing that can happen to you, should you lose, is that you pay an extra $200 month more. So why take that now when you still have resource to appeal?
