Dear Editor:
I am submitting this letter to raise public awareness about the upcoming rolling reassessment program that was passed by Mayor Zimmer and the City Council in September and to build consensus around repealing this ordinance. At the Nov. 12 meeting, it was obvious that there is confusion, unanswered questions and a heightened level of mistrust and uncertainty toward the reassessment process, and by extension those who enacted it, put forth by the citizens in attendance.
The representatives from Appraisal Systems, Inc and the administration provided little if any substantive information to quell peoples’ concerns, as many are still reeling from the revaluation of last year.
This is not the time to put this community, that has barely recovered, both financially and psychologically, into yet another round of home inspections and reassessments of their properties based on current sales from Oct. 2013 to Oct. 2014. This action would be equivalent to a personal and financial assault as we have just finished paying our adjusted 4th quarter payments for 2014 and wondering how to plan for the added uncertainty a new round of reassessment will bring.
Homeowners and tenants had little to no warning, or request for input, that this new program was being instituted as evidenced by the fact that the first public informational meeting scheduled was two months after the ordinance was passed! Homeowners that spent money securing adjusted tax appeals may have been for naught as they can be readjusted by a new round of reassessments. The NJ Freeze Act states that any realized tax reduction would stand for two years, except if a city is in a reassessment year. The city can now, if they choose, wipe out any tax savings to those people who had adjusted appeals, based on new reassessment data collected with this reassessment.
This is a call to action for the creation of a working group of organizers and dedicated support staff to draft a petition to challenge and repeal this rolling reassessment ordinance. It is my understanding that based on last year’s voter turnout, we need 15 percent or roughly 2000 signatures to force a referendum vote and let the citizens of Hoboken decide if this is the course we want to take with our personal and community’s financial future. We need help from individuals willing to commit their unique expertise, be it personal time or technological, legal or business skills to stop this from moving forward.
We can do this if we act together as one community and let our elected officials hear our collective voices.
Anthony Varriano