Assembly-woman Reynolds-Jackson files tax appeal for Trenton property
TRENTON » When she was a city councilwoman, Verlina Reynolds-Jackson did not put up a big stink when Trenton’s taxes skyrocketed after 2016’s dreaded revaluation.
However, the new 15th district assemblywoman now feels she is paying too much in city taxes.
According to a copy of a tax appeal filed by Reynolds-Jackson and her husband on Feb. 8, the couple is seeking a judgement to reduce an assessment of their home on the 700 block of Greenwood Avenue so they would pay less in taxes.
In 2016, the East Ward home built in 1887 was assessed at $99,300 and Reynolds-Jackson paid $5,713 in taxes. After the revaluation, the home’s assessment doubled to $202,800 and the couple paid $10,049 in taxes last year, according to information provided by the city’s tax office. All the taxes on the property are paid up.
The couple bought the home in 2011 for $146,200, property tax records show.
Reynolds-Jackson (D-Mercer/Hunterdon) did not return a message seeking comment about the tax appeal.
Last year, numerous businesses appeared before council complaining that their taxes had tripled for a faulty property revaluation conducted by Whippanybased Appraisal Systems. But city officials, including Reynolds-Jackson, never took any action to have the revaluation performed again.
The former East Ward councilwoman was selected last month at a Mercer County Democratic Committee convention to fill the 15th Legislative District Assembly vacated by New Jersey Treasurer Liz Muoio.
Like with her taxes, Reynolds-Jackson, who is head of the county Democratic party, needed to wheel and deal in order to land the position and retain a full-time job.
Since New Jersey law prohibits a sitting state legislator from simultaneously holding a state job, Reynolds-Jackson was forced to resign from her $92,000 job with the Department of Community Affairs.
In stepped Mercer County, which gifted Reynolds-Jackson a grants administrator job that pays an annual salary of $94,049 last month. The county admitted Reynolds-Jackson was the only candidate considered for the job that was never publicly posted.