Committee to consider reassessment of properties

[property reassessment]

Committee to consider reassessment of properties.

The township is looking at ways to bridge the gap between tax assessments and market value to head off lawsuits by owners of commercial property.

On April 25, Cranbury's tax assessor, Steve Benner, told the Township Committee that the disparity between the market value of properties and the value of tax assessments has grown since 1997, which could expose the township to tax appeal lawsuits by commercial property owners.

The Township Committee is considering whether to ask the county to adjust for the imbalance or whether to reassess all properties in the township. They plan to discuss the matter again at Monday's meeting.

He said the common level ratio, an equally weighed average of new assessments for commercial, residential, vacant land and farm properties calculated over a two-year period, dropped from 72.68 percent in 1997 to 49.7 percent in 2005.

Mr. Benner said the disparity was created because each assessment category is counted equally even though new assessments for residential and commercial development outstrip that of vacant land and farms. Although the problem is very common among suburban municipalities, he said, commercial property owners are challenging the township, saying they have been overtaxed.

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