Village of Ridgewood Plans Reassessment
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2012, 4:04 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Ridgewood officials plan to begin a townwide reassessment this fall with hopes that the village will reduce the number of tax appeals and thus prevent further losses in assessed property values and tax dollars.

The Village Council approved, by 4-1 vote, an emergency appropriation to fund the reassessment program, which finance officials said will commence as soon as the money is in place.

Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh offered the lone vote against the resolution.

According to Michael Barker, Ridgewood’s tax assessor, losses for 2012 will exceed more than $1 million in taxes when judgment on the final appeals is handed down by the county later this year. Losses for 2011 were north of $800,000, while $680,000 was lost in 2010, he said.

The dollar figures grow when referring to assessed value. In 2010, Ridgewood lost $34 million in assessed value and another $40 million last year. Projections for 2012 have not been made.

“The majority of [tax appeal] cases are not defensible,” Barker said, explaining that most of the current property assessments exceed sale prices and appraisals by independent evaluators.

Officials believe that a reassessment will ultimately decrease the number of appeals by bringing property values on par with the demands of the housing market.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/169672516_Ridgewood_plans_reassessment.html

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