Mandatory revaluation may be delayed a year

BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer

BRICK - Despite an order to reassess home values throughout the township, some Township Council members want township home values to stay where they are - for at least another year.

"I would love for it to be pushed off a year," said Councilman Stephen C. Acropolis. "We're in a down market. In two years, a house will be assessed more than in [today's] market."

The Ocean County Board of Taxation last year ordered Brick to revaluate or reassess all properties in the township.

At that time, 51 percent of the 33,440 properties in Brick were assessed at their true value, according to township figures.

A little over a year later, there are 33,455 line items on the tax rolls, said assistant tax assessor Rich Kenny.

But only 44 percent of township properties are assessed at their true value, said Township Chief Financial Officer Scott Pezarras.

"The trigger point is when you fall below 85 percent," he said. "As you can see, we're drastically below that."

Putting off the revaluation for a year can "prompt more tax appeals you can't defend," said Pezarras. "Certain sectors are more in place to file appeals and being successful in those appeals, in which case we're going to have to give back tax dollars. The purpose of doing a revaluation is to make sure all properties are properly assessed."

After the township's most recent revaluation in 1992, the township received 2,386 tax appeals, Pezarras said. More than 140 appeals were successful.

"If history shows us anything, the last time we were putting on the revaluation, a certain sector of the market was out of whack," he said. "That sector got found out by an attorney, and that attorney filed a tax appeal in the entire sector, taking $3 million in tax dollars. I personally don't see any value in the delay of the revaluation."

Although the values of different sectors within the township may have increased or decreased for different reasons since 1992, Pezarras said waterfront property is one sector in which the assessed value is much lower than actual value.

"Without analyzing data, I know that's the case in all seashore communities," he said. "It's more desirable. There's less of it and people want to be on the water."

At a recent council meeting, Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli urged the Township Council to move forward with the revaluation by awarding a contract for revaluation services to Appraisal Systems Inc., Mendam, for $1.46 million.

"I strongly recommend the Business and Finance Committee to work expeditiously on approving the contract," Scarpelli said. "Timing is so very important. The ratio is so dangerously low. It's skewing all kinds of things."

Council President Anthony Matthews said the appraisal service should be lower.

The bids were very aggressive, Pezarras replied.

"I don't see a big hurry," Acropolis said after the meeting. "This is a $1.4 million contract. I don't see the hurry. It's a huge contract."

Also at issue is Township Tax Assessor Frank Millman's request that he be paid $25,000 to assist the revaluation firm throughout the process.

"That just means the tax assessor will work with the firm to sell it to the people," Acropolis said. "If that's the case, hire a PR firm. We won't be held hostage by an employee. We thought we made it quite clear the council's not in a giving mood."

Millman could not be reached for comment due to a six-week medical leave from the township for a knee replacement.

After the 1992 revaluation, Millman received a $10,000 salary increase due to the number of tax appeals he was working on, Pezarras said.

"However, that raise never went away and was built into his base pay," he said. "Assessments didn't change, but we got less and less appeals. A sunset provision should have been set in that raise."

Although Millman did not receive a bonus to assist with the 1992 revaluation, Pezarras said those kinds of perks were not customary back then. Now they are.

"It's customary in recent years because of the viable nature of assessments," Pezarras said. "It's imperative the tax assessor be involved. I don't want to speak for Mr. Millman, but from his comments, he feels that statutorily he's only supposed to provide a certain level of involvement. He's going to provide exactly what the statute says if he's not compensated. He's willing to go the extra mile, but he doesn't want to do it for nothing."

Just because the assessor bonus has become customary in other towns over the past decade, doesn't mean it has to become a custom in Brick, Acropolis said.

"We'll set a precedent on the other side," he said. "Frank Millman is an excellent assessor and a very good person, but we are not here for any one person."

Delaying the revaluation is "thumbing our nose" against the county order, Scarpelli said.

"The issue's really in limbo now," he said. "The council's going to have to make the next move."

The revaluation, once begun, is expected to take two years to complete.