Politics & Government

Home Reassessments' Effect on Tax Bills Not Yet Known

Madison's first revaluation in a dozen years complete.

Madison homeowners recently received cards in the mail with a dollar figure on them that could affect their property tax bills for years to come, though the exact impact is not yet known.

For the first time in a dozen years, updated assessments for properties in the borough were established to bring assessed values to market value.

Before the revaluation, most assessments were at about 60 percent of market value, borough officials have said. But while the values increased, a big jump in assessment doesn't necessarily mean a big jump in taxes.

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Whether a person's tax bill will go up as a result of the revaluation could depend on whether values in their neighborhood increased or decreased disproportionately to values in other neighborhoods, and whether work was done on their home that the borough hasn't taken into account.

Madison officials still are figuring out what the new assessments means for the tax rate. Borough Administrator Ray Codey said he is exploring the possibility of holding a special community meeting about the revaluation.

Find out what's happening in Madisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Clare Renga, broker sales associate for Coccia Realty in Madison, thinks most homeowners are waiting to see the what the impact will be on their tax bill.

"I think most people are not speaking until they find out exactly what their tax rate is going to be," she said.

Regardless of the revaluation, Renga said taxes usually go up each year, and high taxes hurt the housing market."

"In most towns, the taxes are very high," she said. "To overcome that, you have to bring the price of the house down."

Homeowners may appeal the value if they do not think it accurately reflects the fair market value of their property. For more information call Madison's tax assessor at 973-593-3042 or Certified Valuations Inc., the company that performed the revaluation, at 973-361-2701.

The list of assessments is posted on RoseNet.org and attached to this post.


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