Revaluation is complete

[news]

New assessments go out this week

Township residents should check their mailboxes.

Cranbury property owners will receive their proposed tax assessments from the township revaluation in the mail any day now, if they haven't already, Township Tax Assessor Steve Benner said Wednesday. Final assessments are on schedule and should be certified by the beginning of January and applied for the 2007 tax year, he said.

The proposed assessment notices were mailed out early this week, marking the end of the property inspection process for the revaluation company, and the beginning of the review and appeal processes for residents, he said.

The township is paying $158,000 to Appraisal Systems Inc. of Mendham to perform the revaluation, which started in March and is the first property revaluation done in Cranbury since 1986. The process is expected to bridge the gap between property values and current market values.

"It's not simply about raising the revenue," Mr. Benner said. "It's simply to try and make sure that everyone's assessment is accurate and equitable to everyone else's."

Mr. Benner said Wednesday that Appraisal Systems Inc. has finished the property inspection process and has visited 1,156 houses, 89 vacant lots, 149 farm properties, 118 commercial properties and 77 exempt properties.

"The company has been extremely diligent at providing the work on time and that's very commendable on their part," he said.

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