JERSEY CITY – The Hudson County Board of Taxation has sent a letter to Jersey City inquiring what the status is of the city’s property revaluation, according to county spokesman Jim Kennelly. He said the county hopes to have a response by the next freeholders’ meeting, scheduled for Oct. 3.
“If there is no response from the city by then,” Kennelly said, “the Board of Taxation will consult with the assistant attorney general assigned to the state Division of Taxation about what steps to take next.”
Mayor Steven Fulop directed the city to suspend the city’s reval – which was started in 2011 under his predecessor, Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy – shortly after he was elected to office. Since then, the company that was doing the revaluation, Realty Appraisal Co., has stopped doing work for the city.
The reval was the first the city had done since 1988.
But the county is eager for Jersey City to see the process through. According to the city, real estate attorneys, and county officials, the average property owner in Jersey City is paying a tax rate that is less than 32 percent of the value of the property. Kennelly said the county typically likes to see a reval done whenever that number falls below 70 percent.
“That’s the standard,” Kennelly said.
Last month Fulop told the Reporter that his administration planned to file a petition with the Hudson County Board of Taxation asking that the reval be suspended. As of last week Kennelly said that petition had not been filed.
Many property owners, particularly those who own older homes and businesses, fear the reval could translate into higher property taxes. However, property owners who bought in Jersey City at the top of the market, who are paying tax rates based on inflated property values that are out-of-date, would likely benefit from the process. – E. Assata Wright
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