Middletown mulls fairness of reval date Twp. hires tax expert in light of falling values BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN - With property values falling and a real estate slump, the Township Committee has retained special counsel to advise it whether to proceed with a property revaluation. Before the Middletown Township Committee workshop meeting on Dec. 3 could get down to official business, Deputy Mayor Pamela M. Brightbill gave an update on the revaluation. "We have retained special counsel this evening to aid us in evaluating the status, accuracy and fairness of the ongoing township real property revaluation," Brightbill said. "We have all seen the ever-increasing number of 'for sale' signs throughout our township in 2007, have read for months that properties are not selling, that foreclosures are increasing and that the subprime and other financial news is adversely affecting the real estate market." The special counsel Brightbill referred to is attorney Harry Haushalter of Hamilton Square, who specializes in taxation law. Haushalter will be paid $200 per hour with a maximum cap of $10,000. He has worked with townships throughout New Jersey, including Hamilton Township, North Brunswick and Asbury Park. According to his résumé, Haushalter "provides both public and private clients with specialized advice, including opinion letters on specific property tax issues." He regularly appears before the various county boards of taxation, the New Jersey Tax Court, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court and the New Jersey Supreme Court. This week, Haushalter will submit a report to the committee that is expected to tell them whether he thinks the township has a legal basis to go before the county Board of Taxation and dispute the current assessment date of Oct. 1, the date on which the new property values would be set. The report will tell the committee if that date is appropriate and if the values set would not be inflated in a market that is currently in a downturn. Originally, the revaluation was supposed to be put into effect on Jan. 1 of this year, but Middletown sought an extension until it could find a suitable firm to revalue the township. West New York-based Realty Appraisal Co. was hired to complete the current revaluation. Middletown was given the extension and the new revaluation will be put into effect as of Jan. 1, 2008. State law requires that properties be assessed at 100 percent of true value. With increases in prices in the real estate market since 1996, when the last revaluation took place, the County Tax Board believed property assessments had fallen well below 100 percent and ordered the township to revalue the real property assessments of the 22,000-plus line items on Middletown's tax roles, according to a press release distributed by the committee. According to the release, the committee is concerned that "a number of factors may be coalescing to raise questions regarding its accuracy and fairness." Brightbill said that Haushalter's advice is important to the municipality. He will let us know the appropriate actions we need to take," Brightbill said. "The cost is well worth it." Letters assigning new property values in the township have not yet gone out. Brightbill said that the township wants to hear from a tax expert before going forward. "To do so would not be fair to our taxpayers and could lead to the need for a rapid, very costly reassessment as well as possible time-consuming and costly tax appeals if this proves to be the case," Brightbill said. "We wanted to evaluate the risk by looking at the facts and reviewing our alternatives with an expert consultant."