By Chris Neidenberg
Reporter

EAST RUTHERFORD (May 27, 2009, 2:45 p.m.) — After officials spent years trying to delay it, a revaluation of 2,308 properties launched roughly three weeks ago, in an effort to have property values fall in line with the prevailing real estate market.

And while he refused to comply with the state Attorney General’s office edict for the longest time, Mayor James Cassella is now insisting that a landowner’s cooperation with agents from Realty Appraisal Company of West New York is essential.

Without compliance, residents stand to be overassessed from a valuation estimate.

Neil Rubenstein, manager of the firm, said his team of inspectors had gathered information on roughly 140 residential properties, as of early May.

In addition to the 1,918 residential and 292 commercial properties, Rubenstein said his inspectors will analyze 98 vacant lots. “We’ve had no problems so far, things are going fine,” he said during a May 15 phone interview. “It should take us about four or five months to collect all our information.”

Rubenstein said, after analyzing all the data, the borough’s revised total assessed value should be filed with the Bergen County Board of Taxation in early 2010. At that time, a new tax rate will be struck for collecting municipal, school and county taxes.

The process can be highly controversial because certain property owners might see their taxes increase, while others could see bills go down — depending on various factors. The last time East Rutherford had a revaluation was 1990.

According to a letter dated “April 2009” from Tax Assessor Dennis McGuire, “The purpose of the revaluation is to establish current fair market value of each property to be used as a base for the borough’s tax assessments, starting with the year 2010.”

“The aim is to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of the tax burden among all property owners,” McGuire points out.

Landowners disagreeing with the appraisal can appeal to the county tax board.

The board’s 2007 Final Equalization Table (the most recent year it posts online) lists the borough’s total assessed valuation at $927,841,831.

Yet the county also estimates this figure should now approximate $1.7 billion in the current real estate market. The estimated disparity prompted the state’s order to East Rutherford.

Failure of an official to visit a house is a common allegation made by unhappy property owners during controversial revaluations. Yet the manager noted that his company will typically make up to three attempts to enter a property, leaving notices when there is no answer. “We typically gain access in around 90 percent of the properties in a revaluation from cooperating owners,” Rubenstein explained. “Getting an accurate assessment is our goal and, the only way is to gain entry to the property. Otherwise, we are forced to estimate using certain criteria.”

He noted that the first attempt is “unannounced” — but not to surprise property owners. “It is always unannounced because it saves the borough a tremendous amount of money if we can gain access at that time, without having to revisit,” Rubenstein explained, noting that his inspectors have broken the community into “three or four geographic regions” they will cover en masse.

“If every property owner were allowed to schedule visits on an individual basis, it would be a chaotic process,” he said.

Once on site, Rubenstein explained, inspectors take “exterior measurements” of the structure and conduct “a physical inspection” inside, taking note of any improvements such as installation of new air conditioning and heating systems.

“For one- or two-family homes, the process should take no more than 10 or 15 minutes,” he maintained.

Cassella, a harsh critic of New Jersey’s revaluation process, said he wished he could have avoided the borough’s program even longer — but he claimed his hands were tied.

“You don’t want to see residents’ taxes increased this way if you can avoid it,” he said. “But then the attorney general can cite you with contempt, and there’s not much more you can do at that point.”

Yet the mayor also said that while it is “too early” to make any judgments, he expects Realty Appraisal to do a professional job. “They are a good company,” the mayor claimed. “They did the revaluation in Lyndhurst and the municipality seemed to get through it well. The company is also very familiar with the Meadowlands region, which will help us.”

One recommendation Cassella had was for his residents to open their doors.

“It is essential that each property owner cooperate with the inspectors, because an accurate assessment reduces the chances they could be hit with an inflated value causing even higher taxes,” he said. “The only reason not to is if you’re doing something illegal.”

In a flyer from Realty Appraisal citing “10 Frequently Asked Questions,” one asks, “Does a revaluation make my property value go up?”

“Not necessarily,” starts the reply. “Property valuations do not automatically result in higher property taxes. This is because while property values go up, the tax rate used to calculate your tax bill will go down.”

Yet Cassella said when one reads between the lines, certain classes of property owners can get whacked, depending on the results.

“I’ve seen situations where revaluations will double the taxes of senior citizens who can’t afford them,” he said. “It seems New Jersey is the only state where revaluations can cause so much controversy, and there has to be a better way.”