On February 4, Gov. Chris Christie signed S1213 (the
"Act") into law, creating a pilot program that could
substantially change the property tax assessment and appeal process
in New Jersey. The Act's stated goal is to create a "more
cost-effective and accurate process of real property assessment
administration."
Under the provisions of the Act, no more than four counties may
participate in the pilot program: no more than two in the two years
following the passage of the Act, and no more than an additional
two in the third and fourth years following the passage of the Act.
The pilot program provides for the utilization, by the
participating counties and municipalities within those counties, of
the MOD-IV/CAMA property assessment software. The Act requires the
county tax board of each participating county to provide the
MOD-IV/CAMA software to each municipality that does not currently
use the software and for the municipalities' assessors to use
that software when assessing real property.
The Act also grants a participating county tax board the power to
compel a municipality within its county to implement a revaluation
or reassessment of all real property within the municipality. If
the municipality fails to complete the compelled revaluation or
reassessment in a timely manner, the county tax board may contract
for the revaluation or reassessment at the municipality's
cost.
Finally, for counties taking part in the pilot program, the Act
revises the relevant statutory dates for the assessment and appeal
of real property, in part, as follows: 1) Notification of
Assessment postcards must be sent by the municipality to property
owners by November 15 of the pretax year (previously February 1 of
the tax year); and 2) appeals of assessments to the county tax
board must be filed by January 15 of the tax year (previously April
1 of the tax year). It should be noted that the deadline for filing
appeals of assessments that exceed $1 million made directly to the
Tax Court remains April 1 of the tax year.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.