REVAL AND REVOLT
Some Ewing residents upset about drastic increase in property taxes after first re-evaluation in decades, Mayor downplays impact >>
EWING >> Homeowners are facing steep tax hikes in certain parts of Ewing this year as a direct result of the township’s revaluation process.
Tom Chianese, who lives near Mountain View Golf Course and Trenton-Mercer Airport, said his neighborhood is being hit hard under the new property assessments.
“My taxes went up over $2,000,” he said Tuesday in an interview with The Trentonian, adding his property is now assessed at $368,000 from $200,000.
A revaluation program seeks to spread the tax burden equitably and fairly within a municipality, according to information posted on the township’s website. “Real property must be assessed at the same standard of value to ensure that every property owner is paying his or her fair share of the property tax.”
Real estate values in trendy areas near Mountain View Golf Course and Jacobs Creek have substantially increased in the years since Ewing last did a revaluation in 1992. Other parts of Ewing did not produce the same level of household appreciation, creating an imbalance or deviation.
Seeking to restore the balance, the Mercer County Board of Taxation ordered Ewing Township to complete and implement a revaluation by the year 2019, a process reviewed by the New Jersey Division of Taxation.
A private company, Professional Property Appraisers Inc. of Cinnaminson, conducted this year’s township-wide revaluation — a feat that had not been done in more than 25 years.
With the township finally implementing its first revaluation in ages, “Why did it wait so long?” Chianese asked. “Who is responsible for it?”
When reached Tuesday for comment, Ewing Mayor Bert Steinmann said future revaluations should be conducted more frequently.
“I don’t like this 25-year revaluation,” he said. “I think they should do it more than that so people don’t get sticker shock.”
About 60 percent of Ewing’s property owners are experiencing estimated tax decreases under the current reval, according to Steinmann, who said he is looking at an estimated $300-to-$400 tax increase on his residential property.
Residents who own Madison condominiums off Lower Ferry Road are seeing sizable tax decreases under the revaluation, according to Steinmann.
“The Madison, they went down substantially with their tax rate because they were overvalued,” he said.
Revaluations level the playing field and ensure residents pay their fair share of property taxation. In addition to Ewing, the Mercer County Board of Taxation in recent years also ordered Hamilton Township and Trenton to conduct a revaluation of all real property.
Could a mayor take proactive steps to conduct more timely revaluations?
“I don’t know if a mayor can do it,” Steinmann said. “I don’t know whether we could by ourselves say we are going to reval the town, but I would say 25 years is too long.”
Steinmann understands that some of his constituents are facing steep tax hikes because of the belated reval, particularly those who live near the Mountain View Golf Course. As such, the mayor is proposing a lean budget for 2019 that will focus on necessities and not bells and whistles.
“I still have to make some cuts with some capital projects we wanted to do in the town, but we cut some of them back,” he said. “I think we have a pretty decent budget without incurring any more debt to our citizens.”
“Basically, we only want in the budget what is the actual need for the department as opposed to what is the actual want,” he added. “Everybody had a capital project they wanted to do. … There are some things I would have probably liked to have had, but it wasn’t a necessity.”
Ewing property owners who disagree with their new assessments may appeal to the Mercer County Board of Taxation by May 1.
A number of township residents sat down with the appraisal company to discuss their new assessments, according to Steinmann, who said the township has not had much backlash from the revaluation process to date.
“You can count on both hands the amount of people who called me about it,” he said. “There was no big outcry.”