UPDATE: New Milford's Property Values Decrease, Taxes Increase
Revised budget shows municipal tax increase at $63.
The assessed value of a house in New Milford has dropped from an average of $410,068 in 2012 to an average of $321,331 in 2013 -- a drop of $88,729, auditor Steve Wielkotz said during the introduction of the 2013 Municipal Budget, Monday.
This drop in value reflects the results of the 2012 reassessment of property values. To address the declining housing market that was taking property values with it, along with a growing number of tax appeals, the Mayor and Council decided early last year to authorize a borough-wide reassessment.
A reassessment is called for when there is a sizeable disparity between the assessed value of a property and the true market value based on recent sales. It is designed to create stability and reduce the number of appeals. Each property is appraised according to its true market value and assessments are based on this value.
Considering the special projects totaling $4,002,500 included in the capital expenses, preliminary budget numbers show a potential tax increase to the municipal portion of the budget at $63 per year for a house assessed at $321,339, and not between $51 and $52 as the auditor originally reported, according to officials. Over $500,000 from surplus is being used to offset costs and keep the tax increase as low as possible. (The special projects include the Hirschfeld Brook flood mitigation, renovations to Fire Co. 1 and Fire Co. 2, and drawings for the new police headquarters.)
The next meeting of the Mayor and Council will be on March 25. The public hearing on the budget will be at the April 15 Mayor and Council meeting.
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Paige
9:26 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
So, my home is worth less but I am paying more? How does that happen?
Anthony
9:36 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
The assessed value goes down but the tax rate goes up.
Anthony
9:34 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Ann, do you have the new tax rate for every $ thousands of assessed value?
Sam B.
10:04 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
And on top of that, the Mayor is trying to stick us with that monstrosity at the north end of town which will futher decrease some property values and surely increase our taxes. She has to be the worst mayor in the history of mayors.
Paige
10:34 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Thank you @Anthony. I did know that, I guess my question was rhetorical ;-)
Anthony
11:16 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
@Paige I figured as much, no disrespect was intended, but some folks really don't understand.
You are not alone in asking out loud what is going on with the decline in the real value of our homes and property and the ridiculous increases of our tax bills. It would be easy to blame our local governing body, but it really goes well beyond that and is indicative of years and years of corruption, bureaucracy, layer upon layer of redundant services, general indifference to the tax payers, social welfare, Abbott school funding formulas,etc., etc. etc.
Added to the fact that the past 5 or 6 governors did not want to make unpopular choices around cutting services, adding additional taxes and raising income taxes, and then spending like drunken sailors at the state and county levels, (can you say $100 million dollar park on a garbage dump in Overpeck) and here we are.
When the first $10-k, $12-k, $15-k, or even $20-k of our after tax income goes to property taxes, is it no wonder people are disgusted and asking why? I don't have an easy answer, but do know that whatever it is, it will be painful on may different levels.
Ulises
11:19 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
The market determines the price of your home not your tax assessed value. For instance, ten years ago, homes on my block had a tax assessed value of $250k on average yet homes sold for over $400k that year.
Battle
11:46 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
It would be great if we could build mcmansions instead of multifamily apts. Just like in Palisades Park but maybe not as many. This would bring in 20k plus per lot instead of 10k. Also if part of brookchester could be converted into commercial property that looks halfway decent as opposed to the almost section 8 looking apartments that are their now. It takes guts to get this done but somehow it should be looked into.
Adam
11:55 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Well, at least we are not living in the pre-Christy tax increases of 4-5% or more per year. We live in a town with a good school system, pretty decent municipal services (with the exception of the carting service that handles our recycling-what the hecks up with that?) I have friends in Texas and Montana, formally from New Jersey, that have no coice but to pay tens of thousands more per year to put their kids in private schools, based on the abysmal public school system in those and many other states, and the private schools are worse than our New Milford public schools (of course, they do pay significantly less on property taxes than we do). You get what you pay for. Unfortunately for us in New Jersey, the only way to get ahead is to sell our houses at retirement and move to less taxed states. I can't imagine how tough it must be to retire and stay in New Jersey with sucha tax structure.
Anthony
12:28 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Good points, lots of folks in FL for example pay $10-12-k for homeowners insurance and the public schools are terrible. Guess the grass is not always greener.
Battle
12:02 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
That's true about the tax increases being less but we also get back less in the property tax rebates.
Adam
12:42 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Sorry, but really not a fan of property tax rebates. Might as well take out a cash advance from your credit card. It's the same result-only adds to our debt and the money has to be paid back sometime
SPM
5:44 pm on Thursday, March 14, 2013
I really do not understand. My home is assessed 25% less and my taxes are going up? Even with the 3.5% increase how does that figure?
Adam
10:48 am on Friday, March 15, 2013
It's all based on the tax rate, not the assessed value. It may be that other houses were assessed at 30% less, so even though you were assessed at 25% less, you end up paying more in taxes than other that had a great drop in assessed value. In addition, commercial properties may have been assess lower even more than residential homes, which would shift the tax burdon to residential.
Nicholas D'Amelio
8:32 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Battle: Your idea about building McMansions and converting Brookchester into some commercial property instead of apartments outwardly seems to be a good idea. The one thing you have to consider is when you make these types of changes you also have to consider the strain on the infrastructure such as sewers, water and power. When you go from a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with a family of 4 to a house with 2 ½ to 3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms or more and a family 6 or more the strain on the infrastructure goes up. You have to remember the sewers in New Milford were built in the 1930 when New Milford was a farming community. In the past 83 years we went from a farming community to a bedroom community and there has not been any substantial improvement to sewers or any other infrastructure. The point I am trying to make is bigger doesn’t always mean better. Development or development changes have a hidden cost to you and I; and you have to consider the effects on everyone in our community if you make these types of changes.