County mulling missed tax deadline Middletown fails to file revaluation data by Jan. 10 BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN - Property assessments in Middletown will remain the same for 2008 because the municipality missed a mandatory revaluation deadline. According to the Monmouth County Tax Commission,Middletown failed to meet the Jan. 10 deadline that allmunicipalitiesmust meet for submitting data on revalued properties. Monmouth County Tax Administrator Matthew Clark said last week that for a township to miss its revaluation it would mean that, "A failure to submit a tax list which reflects a district-wide revaluation in accordance with the date prescribed in the revaluation order ismost often due to a failure to have the tax maps or subsequent revaluation contract approved by the state in a timeframe that provides sufficient time to perform the overall revaluation process. "In these cases there is no action taken by the county TaxBoard,"Clark said. "In the current case of Middletown Township, the above was not the reason behind the failure to submit the revaluation in a timely manner, hence the need for an investigation." Middletown's last reassessment was in 1991; its last revaluation was in 1982, according to township attorney Bernard Reilly. "Our directivewas to complete the revaluation for 2008 but that was not achieved," Reilly said. "It is a practicalmatter and now will have to be completed for 2009." Reilly and Clark both spoke at ameeting on Feb. 13 in front of the county Board of Taxation about the missed deadline. "As part of our meeting held on Feb. 13, the Tax Board commissioners instructedme to investigate thismatter further and report my findings alongwith recommendations at the next meeting on March 10," Clark said. "Greater details are being sought from the municipal assessor as well as the revaluation firm." Realty Appraisal Co. of West New York was retained to carry out the revaluation. Reilly appearedwithMiddletown TaxAssessor Charles Heck. "The purpose of the meeting was for the assessor to detail the reasonswhywemissed our directive and projected date,"Reilly said. "Primarily he [Heck] explained the reasons and difficulties in the reval." Among the reasons given, according to Reilly,were the size ofMiddletown Township and the fact that there aremore than 25,000 taxable properties/line itemsmeans itwould take a longer time for a revaluation to be carried out than in most municipalities. "The diverse population of the people of Middletown economicallymakes the assessment take a bit longer," Reilly added. "Having all of these diverse communities in a big municipality needs time." He also listed difficulties in getting appropriate sales data in the "unique state market" as a factor in the delay. The township's tax base growth has been steady with a 2006 assessed value of all taxable property at $4.9 billion, representing a 2 percent increase since 2003. According to Clark, the fact thatMiddletown missed its deadline is something he has not seen in his many years of working for the county. "I cannot recall an instance in the last 16 years where a municipality appeared to be positioned to complywith a stated order and has chosen not to submit the revised assessments," Clark said. Middletown officials hired a special attorney late last year to evaluatewhether the township could legally seek a postponement of the Jan. 10 revaluation deadline. The township retained attorney Harry Haushalter, of Hamilton Square, who specializes in tax law to seek a postponement, which was not granted. Clark said that there is no penalty at this time for the missed filing and the effect on the residents of Middletown will be the assessments remaining the same. "Those that may have found some tax relief will continue to pay more than their fair share until the assessments are revised," Clark said. "Conversely, those that would have experienced an increase in taxes will continue to be underwritten by those who are paying more than their fair share." Reilly said that the only change in property tax that would occur for residents would be if they add on to their home. "Assessments will remain the same in 2008 as they have been in the previous year," Reilly said. "Unless they build additions which would be the only case I could see." Clark now has until the March 10 to report how the commissioners should act on the matter.