Â Cranbury Forum | Bulletin | Info Sharing Â :: Topic review - The 9/10/2007 minutes for the Township Committee have been posted

Guest

A 5% shift in the property tax burden from commercial to residential give you a pretty good idea how much Cranbury land is owned by commercial/industrial property owners. Industrial warehousing always decreases in value as time goes on - however, residental property normally increases in value. Thus the tax burden, in time will shift even further on the Cranbury residents. I hope the planning board has a good solution that will help cranbury in the next 5 - 10 years.

Guest

"Ms. Nancy Kietlinski, 83 South Main Street, asked if the residents are going to have a bigger burden in five years as far as the tax shift is concerned. Mr. Benner responded, prior to the revaluation, the warehouses made up 55% of the overall base rate and now they make up approximately 50% and most of the shift took place in the residential community. Ms. Kietlinski raised her concern with warehouses getting older and businesses moving before they are assessed. "

According to the above statement, the warehouses and the residential community share about equal amount of the tax burden. It's hard to imagine that only about 5% of the tax burden was shifted to the residential community given the amount of the 2007 tax increase people reported.

Guest

Guest

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b. Revaluation Question and Answer with Steve Benner, Tax Assessor

Steve Benner, Tax Assessor, hosted a question and answer session with residents concerning the recent revaluation in the Township: Mayor Stout led the discussion, thanking everyone for attending the meeting. Ms. Deanne Napurano, 92 Halsey Reed Road, expressed her displeasure with the appeal process, namely, not knowing the tax rate before the deadline for appeals to be filed. Mr. Benner responded, years ago the new tax rate was known before the deadline to file an appeal, however, the State Legislature changed the process after determining the appeal process is about appealing the assessment and not the tax rate. Ms. Napurano requested someone visit her property again as the appraiser indicated he would return and never did. Mr. Benner indicated he would visit the property even though the appeal period had expired. Ms. Anna Ritter, 88 Halsey Reed Road, stated no one ever came out a second time to look at her home as well and requested Mr. Benner come out. Mr. Mark Mullen, 107 North Main, stated he also agreed the process had not been adequate and stated there had been very little information given. Mr. Mullen indicated he had a 50% increase in his taxes due to the revaluation. Mr. Benner responded by explaining the revaluation process and stated there had been plenty of notice given by the Township during the revaluation process. Mayor Stout explained the Township’s 2006 Budget had been burdened with a triple increase of pension payments to the State (and most likely it would happen again in 2008 and 2009), the hiring of two (2) new police officers, the cost of employees’ benefits rising and the rise in energy and fuel. Mayor Stout added, the Budget hearings were open to the public and urged public interaction to help control the Budget. Mr. Mullen expressed his displeasure with having to make up for the first two quarters the new tax rate on his property. Mr. Benner responded the Township did not have the authority to waive the back payments and stated his office will be keeping an eye on current property values and the current housing market to make sure the values are in sync with one another. Mr. Benner explained if the current market values continue to decline, the Township would have to spend more money to go back and do studies of neighborhoods and take another look at assessed values. Ms. Susan Hamilton, 90 Halsey Reed Road, asked why taxes had not gone down with the construction of warehouses. In addition, Ms. Hamilton inquired why someone on her road with ½ acre more of property had lower taxes. Ms. Hamilton also mentioned she and her husband had never been contacted for a second time by the appraiser and requested Mr. Benner come back to her home. Mr. Benner responded he would go back out to her home and apologized for the conduct of the previous appraiser. Mr. Benner indicated the appraiser had been replaced because of his lack of inter-personal skills. Mr. Benner stated he was aware of the Halsey Reed Road situation and his office would be returning to the homes to take another look at them as initially the appraisers may have been a “little aggressive”. Mr. Benner further explained the warehouses have the resources to initiate appeals on their respective taxes and rather than pay a lot in attorneys fees, the Township opted to do a revaluation. Mr. Benner stated it had been 20+ years since the Township’s last revaluation. Mr. Richard Kallan, 10 Wynnewood Drive, stated his taxes went up 18.5%. If everything else had stayed the same (State, County, School and Open Space) taxes would have only risen approximately 2.3%. Mr. Kallan reported he had been attending the Township’s budget meetings for 32 years and had not ever seen any residents at the meetings. Mr. Kallan urged residents to subscribe to The Cranbury Press to keep informed.

Work Session (Continued)

b. Revaluation Question and Answer with Steve Benner, Tax Assessor

Mr. Edward Kietlinski, 83 South Main Street spoke thanking everyone for having the meeting. Mr. Kietlinski stated The Cranbury Press does a good job however; they give an overview of what happens at the Township Committee meetings. He referenced a lot of residents work in New York and other locations out of town and it is very difficult to make the 7:00 p.m. meetings. Mr. Kietlinski asked if the entire meeting could be made available to the public on the Township’s web site. Mr. Kietlinski indicated his wife, Nancy, had sent to the Township Committee members, samples of other municipalities’ web sites and how they make information available. Mayor Stout stated the Budget meetings are made available to the public and also the Clerk’s Office has a Budget binder in her Office which is also available to the public. Mr. Kietlinski asked to what extent the residents come to the meetings. Mayor Stout responded very few residents attend the Budget meetings. Mr. Kietlinski urged the Township to utilize the web site better. Mayor Stout stated the Township is always trying to do a better job and make everything more transparent. Ms. Nancy Kietlinski, 83 South Main Street, asked if the residents are going to have a bigger burden in five years as far as the tax shift is concerned. Mr. Benner responded, prior to the revaluation, the warehouses made up 55% of the overall base rate and now they make up approximately 50% and most of the shift took place in the residential community. Ms. Kietlinski raised her concern with warehouses getting older and businesses moving before they are assessed. Ms. Kietlinski referenced the towns of Edison and Morristown and urged the Township to take a look at what those municipalities did after the businesses left the warehouses. Mayor Stout stated Ms. Kietlinski had raised a very good point; when you look at the life cycle of a property and its usability it is a cause for concern. Mayor Stout stated when the warehouses were first built; there was a lot of surplus to buffer the tax rate. Today, the Township has fewer surpluses to buffer the tax rate. However, land has a use--there are land use laws and vested rights. Once a property is zoned, it can be used as long as you meet the letter of the law. He stated it is a difficult undertaking. However, the Planning Board every six years under the Municipal Land Use Law is required to re-examine the Township’s Master Plan and part of that re-examination is to review the Township’s zoning, parks, recreation and schools along with its infrastructure. Mr. Benner responded, there was another aspect to the issue; they are well-located properties and as the market changes, they will get re-utilized either for warehousing or some other use. Mr. Benner agreed, commercial properties just as residential properties, go through various life cycles. Mayor Stout referenced Jersey City and Bayonne many years ago were having many destitute properties whose values now have skyrocketed. Mr. Bob Dillon, 32 Hightstown/Cranbury Station Road, asked Mr. Benner since he appealed his revaluation to the County, if he was barred from requesting Mr. Benner to come out and take a look at his property again. Mr. Benner responded could still have him come back out and would do so. Mr. Rick Burke, 35 Washington Road, spoke as both a resident and real estate agent. Mr. Burke stated the value of his home has more than doubled from two (2) years ago and compared to other towns, Cranbury residents have a great deal! Mr. Burke referenced his same home, built by the same builders and located in West Windsor Township is assessed for approximately $75,000 less than his. Mr. Burke urged the Township to get on a regular calendar schedule for revaluations in the future. Mayor Stout responded he agreed that not doing a revaluation for twenty-one years is too long a period of time, however, there is a cost involved to the Township every time one is done. Mr. Carreno Eufronico, 9 Bergen Drive, asked that Mr. Benner return to his home to take a second look. Mr. Benner responded he would do so. Mayor Stout ended the discussion, thanking everyone for attending and Mr. Benner for his “easy to understand” participation and hard work. Mr. Benner then gave out his contact information and urged residents to feel free to contact him and also explained he is able to work on problems until January 10, 2008. Mayor Stout then distributed various graphs which were

Work Session (Continued)

b. Revaluation Question and Answer with Steve Benner, Tax Assessor (cont’d)

prepared concerning the revaluation and showing the changes between the commercial and residential properties and their relationships to the taxes.
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http://www.cranburytownship.org/TC_minutes091007.html