Tax Assessment Revisited

A few years ago TUF interviewed the Tax Assessor to try to explain the property tax process. Since then, for a combination of reasons there has been a freeze on property values and we have a new Assessor now, Stan Belenky. His office has started to reassess properties. Below is a reprint of a story that appeared in the Spectator in April. We republish it here with permission from editor Dan O'Donnell.

Of particular note is the highlighted paragraph below (highlighting added by TUF). Many people are considering not allowing the inspectors into their homes - that may have unexpected consequences. By law if the assessors doesn't get in they will assess your home assuming you have done high end up grades to your kitchen and bathrooms and have a finished basement. What's more if you try to appeal and still don't let them in at that time it is likely the tax board will dismiss your case.

Thus for the average home owner their final assessment will be lower by letting the assessor in than by not doing so. Or in the words of Mr. Belenky, "… not letting the assessor in, bad idea."

Additional note: TUF has received two reports of people who refused inspection and shortly thereafter were fined because they did not have final inspections done on construction permits they took out up to six years ago. The fines were in the thousands of dollars. TUF will investigate the accuracy of these reports and get back to you.

Phil Kramer

When Konstantin (Stan) Belenky was named as the township's new tax assessor in January, he knew he'd have to get right to work.

With 11,000 properties to assess by the October, Belenky-a finance professional with more than ten years' experience in providing residential appraisals in New Jersey-had to hit the ground running from the first day in the office.

His first task was convincing the Somerset County Board of Taxation that he could successfully perform two years' worth of work in eight months while at the same time saving the township a considerable sum because of it.

Noting that the tax board had ordered a revaluation because the township missed the last two years of reassessments, Belenky-a no-nonsense kind of guy-said, "I went in and convinced them to allow us to do the assessment on the condition that we will do 50 percent, not 25 percent (physical assessment of each property in the township), to catch up."

If the tax board had said no on Belenky's proposal, the township would have had to hire an outside consultant in order to do a revaluation of each property in the township.

Belenky-who has also worked as a revaluation consultant-said an outside revaluation could have cost the township millions of dollars.

Because Belenky will be doing the process in-house he will have a better hold on the properties he has to assess this year. Part of the assessment is comparison of values of similar homes in similar areas, but a big part of it is measuring each home and visiting inside each home whenever possible, Belenky said.

That part is the most time consuming and, because some people refuse to give him entry to their house, the most difficult. His office will make contact with a homeowner three times.

If on the first visit the homeowner isn't home, a card is left telling the homeowner that an assessor was there and will return. The card also carries a number the homeowner can call to schedule another visit.

If the homeowner still isn't home when the second visit happens, a few days after the first, another card is left telling the homeowner that Belenky's office will call to arrange an appointment for the inspector.

If no contact is made near the end of the survey, the assessor will assess it at the "highest and best potential use" rate-one that assumes the house has added accoutrements, like a finished basement or guest apartment.

Belenky's first steps on arriving at work were to begin the restructuring of the tax assessor's office.

"The biggest change I made was that,before, the field inspectors had to make their appointments, do data entry, write letters....I separated that," Belenky said. "It makes no sense for one guy to go measure houses for a couple of hours, come back and write letters to people who weren't home, and do data entry.

"Now, one person's responsible. Inspectors do not write letters because letters were submitted (with cards left at the houses inspected). Inspectors do not make an appointment because they're not in the office."

Belenky said that raising productivity is critical to the success of his effort to finish 11,000 properties by October.

The goal of the office is to get 1,250 residential inspections done per month. On a month with no holidays that would average between sixty and eighty assessments per day.

"The productivity has already gone up," Belenky said (in April, 2008). "On average today we're inspecting, between two inspectors, we're up to 50 a day."

A third inspector will be added shortly, Belenky said, further bolstering his productivity. He did say that he wanted to put one myth to rest.

"People feel that the assessments were undone intentionally, because the market was going down," Belenky said. "The honest truth is, the reason the assessments weren't done last year was because the assessor left in the summer, and an inspector left."

Belenky and his inspectors have increased office hours so they are more accessible, even working weekends and evenings, and Belenky can often be found at the municipal complex at eight in the evening. The evening hours are one way to reach out to the residents and to get the monumental job of assessing half the property in the town done in roughly six months.

"I need the help of the community, it makes my job much easier," Belenky said. "So it makes sense if I'm here when they need me to be."

Dan O'Donnell