On Saturday, February 14, 2009, the Presidents of the various Toms River Barrier Island Beach Associations met to discuss the recent tax reassessment and its impact on the home values on the Barrier Island.  Representatives from various law firms were present also, the majority of whom were members of the various associations who had a vested interest in attending.  Bob Damiano attended with Rich Milligan for Silver Beach.  In addition, John Doyle and Diana Anderson, from the firm of Carluccio, Leone, Dimon, Doyle & Saks of Toms River, which represented the recently successful secession of the Beach Bay Way area of Toms River which is adjacent to Lavallette, was present.  This decision is currently under appeal by Toms River. 

The agenda focused on:

·         Individual Appeals

·         Secession/Annexation

·         Class Action Suit

·         Forming a New Township

·         Contact Elected Officials and News Media

·         Assistance for Senior Citizens

Individual Appeals:

The consensus of the attorneys present was that it is first and foremost important that every homeowner protect their own interest by filing the necessary paperwork to appeal their assessment.  This appeal MUST BE FILED NO LATER THAN MAY 1, 2009. 

If each homeowner files an appeal, the enormity of the situation can be quantified, especially in these economic times.

Each individual homeowner will receive an assessment card in the mail shortly from the Ocean County Tax Board.  After this card is received, you may begin the appeal process. 

The process that must be followed is outlined on the Ocean County website:

www.tax.co.ocean.nj.us

If you do not have access to the internet, you may acquire the forms at the Ocean County Tax Office at 118 Washington Street in Toms River or calling 732-929-2008 for further information.

It is not necessary to hire an attorney to file an individual appeal.  However, it is necessary to come prepared with comparative sales data (comps) in order to substantiate the value you believe your home is worth.  It is also necessary to have an appraisal of your property.  Birchler Realty on Rt. 35 was mentioned as an approved appraiser.  The attorneys stressed that the burden of proof is with the homeowner; the County assumes that the assessment is correct.

A Realtor who was present pointed out that many, if not most, of the homes on the Barrier Island are sold furnished and this cost is included in the sale price.  Therefore, he felt it might be worthwhile to challenge the sales prices and ask that they be reduced by the value of the furnishings. 

It was also mentioned that this year, because of the revaluation, there is no dollar limit on the amount of appeal.  However, if you dispute your valuation in future years, there must be a 15% change in order for the appeal to be accepted.  Therefore, it is vital to get the most you can now, when there is no minimum change required.

While the attorneys present indicated it is not necessary to hire an attorney for an individual appeal, they did suggest that it may be cost effective for a group of homeowners with similar properties (such as all the ocean blocks, or bay blocks) to hire an attorney to represent them as a group if they feel the entire area is assessed incorrectly.

Secession/Annexation:

Obviously, many people were speaking of seceding or annexing from Toms River.  However, the attorneys present informed us that in order to succeed in doing this, the area must:

·         Have a contiguous community that is willing to absorb their area.  For Silver Beach, which does not have a contiguous community, this would be difficult, if not impossible.  If all the North Beaches (Ocean Beach to Normandy Beach) joined together, it might be possible to seek secession with either Lavallette or Brick.  However, it was the opinion of the attorneys present that Lavallette would not wish to take on the rest of the beaches due to the disparity and dissimilar nature of the adjacent communities.

·         Have 60% of the voting citizens of the area agreeable to secession

·         Prove that the area is suffering a hardship by not being a part of the other community

·         Not negatively impact the community they wish to leave.  It was felt that secession of the beaches would have a negative impact on Toms River and would not gain approval in the courts.

Tom Doyle further stated that it would not be prudent to pursue secession until all appeals of the Beach Bay Way secession have been exhausted, which could take several years.  Therefore, he stressed again the need for individual appeals.

There was also discussion of NJ Assembly Bill No. 3490, which was presented in December, 2008 by Reed Gusciora of Mercer County.  This bill proposes to consolidate Seaside Park, Seaside Heights, Lavallette, and Mantoloking into a new township, Seaside Township and consolidate all the townships of Long Beach Island into one township.  The bill excludes the Toms River and Brick beach areas in the formation of Seaside Township.  It was the opinion of John Doyle, who had spent 18 years as a member of the NJ Assembly, that this bill will never pass.

Class Action Suit

Several people questioned if a class action suit would be feasible.  One of the attorneys also mentioned that Wall Township currently has a suit pending against Certified Valuation, citing incompetence, etc.  Three of the Project Managers at Certified Valuation have left the company since the Fall.  As a result, the people we are now dealing with are not the people who inspected our homes.  At a recent Toms River Council Meeting, Maria Maruca asked that the final payment to Certified Valuation be held in escrow until all the meetings have been completed.

The attorneys advised us that, since the contract is between Toms River and Certified Valuation, the Beach Associations do not have any cause for a suit.  Furthermore, since the Beach Associations are not incorporated as a group, they cannot sue as a group.

Forming a New Township

One of the other topics of discussion was forming our own township.  However, the attorneys advised that legislative approval is necessary to form a new township, which is highly unlikely, and that it would take years and a lot of money to accomplish if legislative approval could be acquired.

Contact Your Elected Officials and the News Media

As a final suggestion, the attorneys present recommended that each and every homeowner:

·         Write to their elected officials to voice their complaint. 

·         Pound Toms River for services needed:

o       Beach Patrols, particularly at night

o       Crossing Guards on Rt. 35

o       Street Cleaning

o       Snow Removal

In addition, several of the beach associations have put out additional information on their websites, which may be useful to review:

The Ocean Beach 2 website contains several sample letters and a list of local officials to contact.

www.ob2.org

The Ortley Beach website contains various sales information for the Ortley Beach area, which may be useful.

www.ortleybeach.org

We are also working with one of our Members, who is a real estate agent, to compile similar information for Silver Beach.  Once it is together, we will post it on the Silver Beach website.

In addition, recent sales information may be acquired on the Asbury Park Data Universe site:

www.datauniverse.com

Assistance for Senior Citizens

The State of New Jersey has a Property Tax Reimbursement program for eligible senior citizens, age 65 and over who have lived in New Jersey for at least 10 years and have a total income in 2008 of less than $70,000.  See the New Jersey State website for specific information:

http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/ptrelig.shtml

The bottom line from the meeting is:

·         File your appeal no later than MAY 1st…this is a drop dead date…May 2^nd is too late!!

·         File your Property Tax Reimbursement, if eligible (Senior Citizens only)

·         Join together with your neighbors to hire an attorney to represent you as a group, if you feel it is appropriate

·         Write to your elected officials to voice your concerns

·         Contact the news media to get some press on the situation

We will keep you posted of any new developments via e-mail and will post all correspondence on our website:

www.silverbeachnj.org

If you wish to be added to our distribution list, please send an e-mail to:

silverbeachnj@aol.com

Silver Beach Executive Committee

By now, you have probably received the revaluation letter from Certified Valuations, Inc., regarding the reassessment of your property in Silver Beach.

On Saturday, January 24, 2009, there was a meeting to discuss the recent revaluation that was conducted on all properties in Toms River Township.  Present at the meeting were:

·         Representatives from all the Toms River Township beach communities

·         Bob Chankallian, Toms River Township Administrator

·         Glen Seelhorst, Toms River Township Tax Assessor. 

·         Maria Maruca, our representative on the Town Council, was present at the start of the meeting, but had to leave due to a family emergency.

Silver Beach was represented by Rich Milligan, President, and Arnie Morris and Gabby Dudas, Trustees.

Here is the pertinent information from the meeting regarding the reassessment.

The representatives from Toms River provided some background for the reassessment:

·         The State of NJ mandated the reassessment in 2005. 

·         The reassessment, which was conducted independently by Certified Valuations, Inc. of Randolph, NJ, was originally expected to be completed in 2007 and be in effect for the 2008 tax year.  However, the reassessment was delayed due to the recent volatility in the real estate market.

·         After all the revaluations were completed, property values on the barrier island have increased at a rate twice that of those on the mainland since the last revaluation in 1994.  This means that while mainland properties are now worth 2 times their 1994 value, properties on the barrier island are now worth 4 times their 1994 value.  The numbers were arrived at by thorough analysis of real estate sales data through mid-2008.  

·         The representatives stated that more recent sales have remained fairly consistent with these values but the volume of transactions is down.  They said their goal was to be within 5% of market values and feel they are within 1% based on new deeds filed in the past 6 months. 

·         The overall impact is a redistribution of the tax burden within Toms River from the mainland to the island.  In prior years, barrier island tax revenue was roughly 15% of the total tax dollars collected.  It is likely that number will increase to 25% or more with this new assessment.  Further, they estimate that 30% of mainland residents will have lower tax bills going forward.

·         The projected impact this revaluation will have on 2009 property taxes is as follows:

o        If the new assessed value of your property is more than 2.75 times the old assessed value, your taxes will increase

o        If the new assessed value of your property is less than 2.75 times the old assess value, your taxes will decrease.

Based on information gathered from several Silver Beach Board Members and others attending the meeting, it appears as though the increase in assessed values for Barrier Island Properties range from 3 to 7 times the old assessed values, resulting in tax increases in some cases that exceed 60%.

The representatives from Toms River also outlined what one needs to do to appeal their appraisal, if they feel it is unfair:

·         Appeals must be done individually. 

·         One can only challenge the valuation, not the amount of taxes. 

·         Here is the process:

                   -          Phase I

§         Contact Certified Valuations, Inc. by phone (732-341-3069) within 5 days to make sure that the basis for the appraisal is correct.  Schedule an informal meeting with them to make sure the relevant facts regarding your property correct, i.e. number of bedrooms, garages, etc.  They will make changes if there were errors in the assessment process. 

§         If you have recent real estate data to support a lower valuation, it should be provided as well. 

-          Phase II

§         If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Phase I appeal, you must submit a formal appeal to the County by May 1, 2009.  Again, you can only appeal the property valuation, not the tax amount, and must provide concrete evidence to show the valuation is overstated.  Specifically, you will need to provide hard real estate comparisons that show that your property is overvalued.   

§         You have the right to appeal your valuation EACH YEAR with the County.  The cut-off date in non-reassessment years is 45 days after receipt of your tax card or roughly April 1st.  As stated above, you will need to provide hard real estate comparisons to support your appeal.  If the economy continues to worsen and more homes are forced onto the market, we may see a decline in values and be better positioned to file an appeal a year from now.

§         Further information regarding Tax Appeals may be found on the Ocean County Web Site:

www.tax.co.ocean.nj.us 

 A few small positives:

·         Overall the Township budget has been marginally lowered.  That works out to a few pennies per $100/valuation.

·         Common areas will be valued at zero, so taxes the Association pays as a non-profit should be reduced if not eliminated.

 Unfortunately, there is no way to sugar-coat this.  We encourage everyone who feels their reassessment is too high to contact Certified Valuations in a timely manner.  If you have a neighbor who is not on our distribution e-mail list, we encourage you to contact them and advise them of the process.  A copy of this letter will be posted on the Silver Beach website:

            www.silverbeachnj.org

If you would like to voice your concern to the Toms River Town Council, the next Town Council Meeting is Tuesday, January 27^th at 6pm in the Municipal Building at 33 Washington Street in Toms River.

If you have any questions or encounter any problems contacting Certified Valuations, please first contact Bob Chankallian, the Township Administrator:

·         By phone at 732-341-1000 x8212

·         By e-mail at RChankallian@tomsrivertownship.com

If you are unable to get through to either Certified Valuations or Bob Chankallian, please let us know.

We will keep you posted of any new developments.  Unfortunately, we do not expect any significant changes at this time.

Silver Beach Executive Committee