Property Values Drop Average of 15 Percent in Lower Township

VILLAS — Lower Township Tax Assessor Art Amonette has completed a reassessment of properties showing an average reduction of 15 percent overall.
He said the township’s ratable base last year was about $4.8 billion dropping to just under $4.1 billion this year showing a $700 million reduction in property values.
Amonette said not every property owner’s assessment went down 15 percent with some dropping 30 percent while some went up 5 to 10 percent in value. In total, 400 properties increased while 15,500 properties decreased in their assessment. A few properties remained the same.
The effect of the reassessment on the tax bill for property owners will not be known until the township sets its 2010 budget and tax rate, said Amonette. He said a property owner may see that their assessment went down $50,000 but their taxes went up because the tax rate increased or their percentage of decrease wasn’t as much as other property owners.
Amonette said he found when the last revaluation was undertaken three years ago, some areas were undervalued but he said that was not the case in most of the township. He said he examined the sale prices of homes over three years finding a trend of the market decreasing about one-half cent per month.
Amonette said the new assessment was at 100 percent of value which will be reduced to about 93 percent after the county uses its equalization table.
Property owners should be receiving reassessment notices this week and the information will be on the township’s Web site next week.
Property owners have the right to file an appeal with the Cape May County Board of Taxation if they disagree with their assessment.
Amonette said the reassessment came in on time and under budget.Property owners complained last year a revaluation was undertaken at the height of the real estate market before the bubble burst.