http://www.teaneckshuls.org/SelectedPosts/RealEstateTaxes

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From: alansohn@webspan.net
Sent: August 11, 2005
To: TeaneckInfo@YahooGroups.com
Subject: [TeaneckShuls] Understanding Your Teaneck Tax Bill for 2005

You've received your Teaneck 2005 tax bill. Now what? If you would like to gain a better understanding of your tax bill, how the rate is calculated, how it has changed over the past few years, what you can do to challenge your assessment and how revaluation will affect your taxes, keep on reading.

TAX BILLS MAILED AUGUST 4TH; THIRD QUARTER PAYMENTS DUE BY SEPTEMBER 9TH
The new Teaneck tax bills were mailed to property owners on August 4th, 2005. Anyone who hasn't yet received their bill for 2005, or who has any other questions regarding their property taxes, should contact the Tax Collection office at 201-837-4819, open Monday through Friday, from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM.

Payment for Third Quarter property taxes must be received by September 9th, 2005. Payments received after this date shall be deemed delinquent with interest accruing from August 1st, 2005. Residents who pay their property taxes through their mortgage payments should be unaffected, as the property tax payment should be made from escrow by the due date.

BREAKDOWN OF 2005 PROPERTY TAX RATE
The new General Tax Rate for 2005 is $4.38 per $100 of assessed value, compared to the 2004 rate of $4.18, a year-to-year increase of 4.8%. For the Teaneck homeowner living in a home assessed at $200,000 (right near the township average), the total tax bill for 2005 will be $8,760, compared to a total of $8,360 for 2004, an increase of $400 from the prior year.

The total tax rate encompasses a number of components, of which School (nearly 60% of total taxes) and Municipal (33%) account for the overwhelming majority, with County taxes (7%) accounting for most of the balance. The last two lines in the tax rate are for the County and Municipal Open Space Trust Funds, each of which amount to about $20 for a home assessed at the Township average. The Municipal Open Space Trust Fund is new for 2005, having passed on last November's ballot. The following breakdown summarizes the change in the General Tax Rate from 2004 to 2005 by the constituent elements:

Category 2004 2005 Change
--------- ------ ------ ------
Total 4.180 4.380 +4.8%
School 2.477 2.573 +3.9%
Municipal 1.384 1.460 +5.5%
County 0.309 0.327 +5.8%
Cty. Open 0.010 0.010 +0.0%
Mun. Open 0.010 N/A

Avg. Taxes $8,360 $8,760

TEN-YEAR HISTORY OF TAX RATES AND RATE CHANGES
A summary of the tax rates for this year and the past decade, with the percentage change from the previous year, is included below:

Year Rate Change
2005 4.38 +4.8%
2004 4.18 +4.8%
2003 3.99 +4.2%
2002 3.83 +5.2%
2001 3.64 +3.4%
2000 3.52 +3.8%
1999 3.39 +4.6%
1998 3.24 +3.2%
1997 3.14 +4.3%
1996 3.01 +5.2%
1995 2.86 +5.5%

CHALLENGING YOUR ASSESSMENT
If you think your property assessment (and thus your property taxes) is too high, you can contest the equity of your assessed value by filing a petition of appeal with the Bergen County Board of Taxation that must be submitted (approximately) by April 1st, 2006. Click on http://www.co.bergen.nj.us/taxboard/appeal.html for an explanation of the petition process. See http://www.co.bergen.nj.us/taxboard/appeal.pdf for instructions on filing the required petition of appeal.

The burden is on the property owner to prove that your assessment is unreasonable, excessive, or discriminatory. It is necessary for you to prove at the onset that your assessment is in error. It is also necessary for you to suggest a more appropriate value.

The taxpayer must be persuasive and present credible evidence. Credible evidence is evidence supported by fact, not assumptions or beliefs.  Photographs of both the subject property (the property subject to the appeal) and comparables are useful in illustrating your argument. Comparable means most of the characteristics of your property and the neighboring sale is similar. Some of the characteristics making your property comparable are: recent sale price, similar square footage of living area, similar lot size, proximity to your property, the same zoning use, and similar age and style of structure, etc. Sales of all properties (SR-1A's) are available for your review at the County Tax Board. Click on the http://TRID.TeaneckInfo.com database, which provides assessment details on every residential property in Teaneck, and which can be useful in identifying assessment discrepancies and comparable sale information.

TOWN-WIDE REVALUATION COMING FOR 2007
The Township of Teaneck will be undergoing a full revaluation of every property in town. This process involves hiring a firm to inspect each property and calculate the new assessment as the value of each home and business at then-current market prices, as required by state law. These new assessments will be used to allocate property taxes (e.g., school, municipal and county) starting in 2007.

Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, the Township will NOT bring in any extra money as a result of this revaluation: The process is completely revenue neutral. While average assessments are likely to increase significantly in individual cases), the tax rate will see a corresponding reduction. The typical homeowner whose assessment changes at the Township average will not see any increase above normal. Revaluation is intended to
ensure that each property owner is paying their fair share of property taxes, and that changes in values in different areas or individual homes and businesses are reflected town-wide in assessments.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Information contained herein has been gathered from the Teaneck Township's http://www.TeaneckNJGov.org web site, from current and prior year Teaneck tax bills, and from rate and assessment statistics obtained from the Bergen County Board of Taxation at the http://www.co.bergen.nj.us/taxboard/ web site. Details on revaluation are available at http://tinyurl.com/66qet from the January 4th, 2005 issue of the Record.

Alan Sohn
See http://www.TeaneckInfo.com for the complete Teaneck Community Calendar.
Send your event to mailto:Events@teaneckinfo.com for inclusion on the site.
"Scientia Est Potentia"

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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShuls/message/62996

From: "alansohn@w..
Date: Tue Jan 4, 2005 8:18 am
Subject: Record 1/4: It's Revaluation Time in Teaneck

Now it's Teaneck's turn. After years of insistence from the County Tax Board, Teaneck is due to undergo a full revaluation of every property in town. This process involves hiring a firm to inspect each property and calculate the new assessment as the value of each home and business at current market prices. These new assessments will then be used to allocate property taxes (i.e., school, municipal and county) starting in 2007.

Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, the Township will not bring in any extra money as a result of this revaluation: The process is completely revenue neutral. While average assessments are likely to almost double, the tax rate will be cut about in half. The typical homeowner whose assessment changes at the Township average will not see any increase above normal. Revaluation is intended to ensure that each property owner is paying their fair share of property taxes, and that changes in values in different areas or individual homes and businesses are reflected town-wide in assessments.

For the full article, read today's Record or see
http://tinyurl.com/66qet for the complete text at the Record's http://www.Bergen.com web site (registration required).

It's revaluation time in Teaneck
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
By BRIAN ABERBACK
STAFF WRITER

TEANECK - The last time the township underwent a property reassessment, Jimmy Carter was president, and talking about the rise of McMansions would get you a blank stare.

That's a great deal for landowners whose property is worth significantly more now on the real estate market than it was in 1979, the year of the last townwide revaluation.

But time has caught up with Teaneck, and some homeowners have only a couple of more years left to enjoy their relatively low assessments. The Township Council is scheduled to vote tonight to introduce an ordinance that would appropriate $1 million to fund the first revaluation in 26 years, a process meant to bring property assessments up, or in some cases down, to market values.

"The county is telling us we have to do it," Mayor Jacqueline Kates said Monday. "I just want to make sure that we accomplish it in a way that's most equitable to all of our tax-paying residents. I wish we didn't have to pay so much to do it, but we really have no choice."

The money, which would be used to pay a company to perform the revaluation and for other revaluation-related expenses, would come from an emergency fund and be paid out over five years, said Township Manager Helene Fall.
Home inspections are expected to begin later this year and carry into 2006, Fall said.

While some people will see their property taxes rise as a result of the revaluation, others will see a reduction in taxes, and some will see no adjustment. The town's overall tax rate is expected to decrease because of the higher assessments. Whether a homeowner's tax bill increases depends on how much his assessment changes compared with other homes and how much the town tax rate is decreased.

Those who anticipate a tax increase have a while to prepare: New assessments are scheduled to take effect in 2007, Fall said.

The Bergen County Tax Board first ordered Teaneck to perform a revaluation in 1999. The township appealed the decision, and a state tax court judgment resulted in the current revaluation schedule.

Revaluations are typically ordered when surveys show that property values in a town have fallen below 85 percent of market value. They can also be ordered when a township hasn't performed one in more than a decade. Teaneck's ratables were at 92 percent of market value when the initial revaluation was ordered six years ago, Fall said.

Teaneck's 12,019 homes and businesses are currently at 58 percent of market value, said Township Tax Assessor James Tighe.

Township Councilman Paul Ostrow said he's not surprised that some township homes are now worth significantly more than their assessment on the open market compared with six years ago, let alone 1979. He noted that many North Jersey towns have undergone revaluations recently.

"I think [increasing market values] has to do with the limited amount of space in Bergen County and the fact that people are anxious to build and buy residential property here," Ostrow said.

Teaneck is almost completely built up, but the township has seen many teardowns - when someone buys and demolishes a home to build a bigger one - and additions to existing homes in recent years.

E-mail:
aberback@northjersey.com Copyright © 2005 North Jersey Media Group Inc.

Alan Sohn
See
http://www.TeaneckInfo.com for the complete Teaneck Community Calendar. Send your event to mailto:events@teaneckinfo.com for inclusion on the site. "Scientia Est Potentia"

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To: bethabraham@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2004
To all Bergenfield homeowners - You are urged to take advantage of the appeal process. Please call the Bergenfield Tax assessor, Jim Anzarino, at 201-265-2100 ext. 614.Until the new tax rate is set, we will not know the full effect of the recent assessments.

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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShuls/message/51118

From: "Alan Sohn" <alansohn@w..>
Date: Wed Jul 28, 2004 4:48 pm
Subject: Teaneck Tax Rate Certified; Bills Delayed
Teaneck's annual tax bills are generally mailed out the first week of July. However, this year, the Township just received the certification of the tax
rate (municipal, school and county) from the Bergen County Board of Taxation. Therefore, tax bills are anticipated to be mailed within the next week. Please note that when the tax bills are mailed, there will be an extended grace period for payment of the August 2004 taxes, which will be noted in your tax bills.       Residents who wish to pay their taxes in person, prior to the receipt of their tax bill, may come to the Tax Collector's office during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. The Tax Collector's office will also be open the evening of Monday, August 2nd, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. Staff will be able to advise you, at that time, of the amount due for Third Quarter of 2004. The Tax Collector's office is located in the Municipal Building, at the corner of Teaneck Road and Cedar Lane, on the immediate right as you enter the building.

The new property tax rate for 2004 is $4.18 per $100 of assessed value, compared to the 2003 rate of $3.99, a year-to-year increase of 4.76%. The 2004 total tax bill for your home can be calculated by multiplying the assessed value of your home by the new rate. The Teaneck Residential Information Database at http://TRID.TeaneckInfo.com provides assessed values of residential properties in Teaneck and has been updated to reflect the new tax rates.

Alan Sohn
See http://www.TeaneckInfo.com for the complete Teaneck Community Calendar. Send your event to mailto:Events@TeaneckInfo.com for inclusion on the site. "Scientia Est Potentia"

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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShuls/message/26959

From: "Alan Sohn" <alansohn@w...>
Date: Thu Jul 24, 2003 12:40 pm
Subject: Teaneck Tax Bills Are On Their Way!

Fellow Teaneck Resident,
Teaneck's tax bills have been delayed as a result of additional State aid received by the Township. The bills will be mailed the week of July 28th.
As a result of the delay in mailing, the Teaneck Township Council has adopted a resolution which provides that the due date for the Third Quarter 2003 taxes be extended from August 11, 2003 to August 25, 2003, as required by law. Payments must be received by August 25, 2003, for Third Quarter 2003 taxes, in order to avoid the payment of interest.
Payments received after August 25, 2003 will be considered delinquent and interest will be calculated from August 1, 2003
Those residents who pay their taxes through their mortgage payments should be unaffected, as the property tax payment should be made from escrow by the original due date.

The new General Tax Rate for 2003 is $3.99 per $100 of assessed value, compared to the 2002 rate of $3.83, a year-to-year increase of 4.9%. For the average Teaneck homeowner living in a home assessed at the township average of $196,575, the total tax bill for 2003 will be $7,843.34, compared to a total of $7,528.82 for 2002, an increase of $314.52 from the prior year.

The following breakdown summarizes the change in the General Tax Rate from 2002 to 2003 by the constituent components:

2002 2003 Change
Total 3.830 3.990 +4.2%
School 2.265 2.369 +4.6%
Municipal 1.258 1.328 +5.6%
County 0.302 0.288 -4.6%
Open Space 0.005 0.005 +0.0%
Avg Tax Bill $7,528.82 $7,843.34 +$314.52

A summary of the tax rate for the past ten years, with the percentage change
from the previous year is included below:

Year Total Annual
Rate Change
2003 3.99 4.2%
2002 3.83 5.2%
2001 3.64 3.4%
2000 3.52 3.8%
1999 3.39 4.6%
1998 3.24 3.2%
1997 3.14 4.3%
1996 3.01 5.2%
1995 2.86 5.5%
1994 2.71 9.3%
1993 2.48

The information contained herein has been gathered from the Teaneck Township website at http://www.TeaneckNJGov.org directly, while the rates (and components of the rate) for 2003 have been obtained from the Township’s Tax Collection department. Rates for prior years, and the components of the General Tax Rate for 2002 have been obtained from the 2002 Abstract of Ratables for Bergen County which can be obtained at http://www.co.bergen.nj.us/taxboard/tables.html

Alan Sohn “Scientia Est Potentia”

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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShulsChat/message/6801
From: crshulman@a..
Date: Mon Jul 15, 2002 10:03 am
Subject: Teaneck taxes ...

In a follow-up of last year's email, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShulsChat/message/2541 the following illustrates how Teaneck taxes are continuing to go ..up.

The following illustrates that Teaneck real estate taxes have increased 5.2% from last year, 8.8% from 2 years ago, and 13% from 3 years ago, [without]
factoring in any increased in assessed value of the property.

On my tax bill I show

2002-2003 (percent of assessed value)
Local Municipal Tax 1.258 %
County 0.302 %
County Open Space 0.005 %
District School Tax 2.265 %
-------
Total 3.820 %

2001-2002
Local Municipal Tax 1.193 %
County 0.266 %
Municipal Open Space 0.005 %
District School Tax 2.176 %
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Total 3.640 %

2000-2001
Local Municipal Tax 1.171 %
County 0.259 %
Municipal Open Space 0.005 %
District School Tax 2.085 %
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Total 3.520 %

1999-2000
Local Municipal Tax 1.115 %
County 0.255 %
Municipal Open Space 0.005 %
District School Tax 2.015 %
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Total 3.390 %
...
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShulsChat/message/6816
From: crshulman@a..
Date: Mon Jul 15, 2002 2:55 pm
Keep in mind that while a majority of the Teaneck taxes (about 60%) go toward the school district - and that has increased 4.1%, a good chunk (33%) goes
towards Teaneck Municipal tax - which has increased 5.4%, and about 8% goes towards county tax, which has increased 13.5% ...

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