Hesley Advises Council to Reassess All Properties for 2018 Tax Year

AVALON – A routine business meeting of Avalon Borough Council July 13 was preceded by a work session in which Assessor Jeffrey Hesley told the council that it would be advisable for the borough to conduct a complete reassessment in time for the 2018 tax year. 
Hesley pointed to the state-mandated revaluation ordered in neighboring Stone Harbor and said that the borough should undertake the less expense and less arduous reassessment at the present to avoid a state-ordered revaluation.
Hesley said that his recent calculations of stratified sales led to his proposal. The ratios are showing up-and-down disparities, and the coefficient of deviation is too wide, he said.
That coefficient, he explained, measures the dispersion of market values showing  that many are “all over the place.”
If council approves the proposal, it will mark the third reassessment in the borough since 1993 with the most recent being in 2011.
Hesley believes the process can be done entirely in-house with the addition of three experienced inspectors part-time for the period of the reassessment.
Hesley said that he used sales data as current “as yesterday” for his presentation to council. He proposed aiming for the 2018 tax year in order “to get it right,” saying that trying to get this task done by Oct. 1 of this year, a date which would be required if the reassessments were to be used for 2017 taxes, would “not give us enough time.”
The inspections in a borough, like Avalon, take time given the number of non-resident property owners for whom the inspections would have to be scheduled.
Joint Insurance Fund
Paul Miola, executive director of the Atlantic County Joint Insurance Fund (JIF), made a presentation in advance of the year-end point when the borough would normally renew its participation in the JIF.
Miola cited the JIF’s 25-year history of success and financial stability, giving credit to the member-participation model that fully involves member municipalities in worker safety and risk management activities.
All 16 municipalities in Cape May County participate in the ACM JIF and “every member has to make a commitment to safety,” Miola said.
Citing Avalon’s low loss ratio, Miola pointed to the 5 percent drop in the borough’s assessment.
“The JIF rewards good performance,” he said.
Miola noted that the JIF, as a quasi-public entity, is not driven by a profit motive. Good performance by its member municipalities also results in dividends back to the members of funds that commercial companies would consider insurance profits.
According to Miola, Avalon has received $850,000 in dividends in the years that it has been part of the JIF.
Miola noted that the JIF resolved all Sandy claims in 36 months while many entities with other insurance coverage are still awaiting resolution.
Miola also pointed to new JIF programs to cover drone-related issues and cyber security as well as the recently initiated wellness program.
All indications from the council were that Avalon would most likely renew its participation in the JIF at the appropriate time.
Landscape Ordinance
Also discussed were proposed changes to the landscape ordinance.
In 2014, the ordinance became an issue in public comment at council meetings due to allegations that healthy trees were being cut down in large numbers during the demolition of existing houses and construction of new ones.
At the time the borough looked into the allegations and, responding to public comment, issued an executive order by the mayor. That was later ratified by council, which sought temporary relief for the problem. The borough also set up a committee to look into a long-term modification of applicable ordinances.
Assistant Business Administrator James Waldron told the council that the work on the ordinance was necessary because the existing ordinance “contains ambiguities which make it difficult to enforce.”
He spoke of four categories that are addressed by the new draft: New construction, demolition, timing issues for landscape plans related to construction permits, and empty lots with no existing plans for construction.
The draft dealt with each category outlining landscape and vegetation requirements that Waldron said the committee hoped struck the right balance between the rights of property owners and the goals of the borough environmental concerns.
Council had done its homework, asking questions on specific language in the proposed draft ordinance.
In the earlier presentation on a potential tax reassessment, Hesley had noted that there were 2,080 new homes constructed in the borough since he became assessor in 1993.
That put in context the effort of the committee on landscaping and green space in a borough that sees significant amounts of demolition and new construction.
At the heart of one section of the proposed ordinance is a requirement for new construction that 15 percent of the area must be devoted to green space. 
The ordinance gives an explanation of what does and what does not count in green space calculation.
Waldron said that the proposed ordinance has “clearer language and allows for easier enforcement.”
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.