Howell will issue bonds to refund property taxes | Daily Rosetta ...

Howell will issue bonds to refund property taxes

BY CHRISTINA HABERSTROH Staff Writer

HOWELL ? The Howell Township Council introduced an ordinance on Aug. 17 that upon its adoption will permit the township to issue bonds and to refund $1.35 million to property owners who successfully appealed their property assessments.

The bonds must be issued because Howell does not have the cash on hand to pay the refunds to individuals who won their property tax appeals.

Property owners pay property taxes based on the assessed value of their property (generally the land and a home).

Asuccessful appeal reduces the assessed value of the property and subsequently reduces the property tax. a refund is due to the property owner when taxes based on an assessment that is no longer accurate have been paid.

According to Howell tax assessor Gregory Hutchinson, about 980 tax appeals were filed last year, and this year 1,504 tax appeals were filed.

Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Filiatreault said the money is needed after a preliminary list of successful tax appeals was received by the township which totals $1.35 million.

?The town can ill afford to make those refunds out of the current tax revenue,? he said .

Township Manager Helene Schlegel said Howell needs to pick up the tab for the successful appeals, including the payments to school boards, fire districts and other taxing entities.

?when someone wins an appeal we are responsible for all of the tax,? she said.

Filiatreault noted that the bonds can be paid back over three years. He said he is confident officials will not need to bond to pay any more refunds in the future.

?I don?t anticipate this problem going forward since we are doing [a reassessment] and so we are going to bring all of the properties back in line? with a current accurate assessment, he said.

Hutchinson said the significant number of tax appeals being filed by Howell property owners led to the need for the reassessment of all properties in the municipality.

The assessment ?helps to lessen the loss in tax appeals due to the false ratable base from the drop in the housing market,? he said.

The municipality has hired Realty Appraisal Company of West new York to conduct the reassessment that will include an interior and exterior inspection of properties.? The reassessment will correct any disparity in the property values, which is expected to reduce the number of appeals as well as correct any inequities in neighborhoods that have occurred due to the high volume of appeals the last few years,? Schlegel said. ?The township?s goal is to attempt to ensure that all of our properties are assessed as fairly and accurately as possible.?

a public hearing and adoption of the bond ordinance is scheduled for the Sept. 6 council meeting.

Source: http://www.dailyrosetta.com/howell-will-issue-bonds-to-refund-property-taxes/33824.html

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