Bill Text: NJ A1441 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires municipal-wide reassessment of real property under certain circumstances.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A1441 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A1441-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ROBERT J. KARABINCHAK
District 18 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Requires municipal-wide reassessment of real property under certain circumstances.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the assessment of real property, amending and supplementing P.L.1960, c.51, and amending P.L.1967, c.44.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1960, c.51 (C54:4-2.25) is amended to read as follows:
1. All real property subject to assessment and taxation for local use shall be assessed according to the same standard of value, which shall be the true value of such real property and the assessment shall be expressed in terms of the taxable value of such property, which taxable value shall be that percentage of true value as shall be established by each county board of taxation as the level of taxable value to be applied uniformly throughout the county.
The true value of real property shall be determined by the municipal-wide reassessment of that real property performed by municipal assessors whenever the ratio of assessed value to true value is lower than 90 percent or greater than 110 percent pursuant to section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
(cf: P.L.1960, c.51, s.1)
2. (New section) a. The assessor of each municipality shall perform periodic municipal-wide reassessments of real property as necessary to ensure that, for every tax year, the ratio of assessed value to true value of the real property in the municipality is not less than 90 percent or greater than 110 percent.
b. Each assessor shall annually certify to the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury that the ratio of assessed value to true value of real property in the municipality is not less than 90 percent or greater than 110 percent.
c. The assessor of each municipality shall perform an initial municipal-wide reassessment of real property not later than January 1 of the third tax year next following the enactment if P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). Thereafter, the assessor shall perform periodic reassessments of real property as required in subsection a. of this section.
3. Section 7 of P.L.1967, c.44 (C.54:1-35.31) is amended to read as follows:
7. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary, every person
(1) who, upon reappointment or re-election subsequent to having received a tax assessor certificate and having served as tax assessor or performed the duties of assessor for not less than four consecutive years immediately prior to such reappointment or re-election, or
(2) who, on or before June 30, 1969, shall have received a tax assessor certificate while actually in office as assessor or performing the duties of an assessor, and who, on or before June 30, 1969, shall have served as assessor or performed the duties of assessor for not less than four consecutive years,
shall hold his position during good behavior and efficiency and compliance with requirements for continuing education pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1999, c.278 (C.54:1-35.25b), notwithstanding that such reappointment or re-election was for a fixed term of years, and he shall not be removed therefrom for political reasons but only for good cause shown and after a proper hearing before the director or his designee after due notice. A person who was formerly an assessor, a secretary of a board of assessors or a member of a board of assessors who shall have become by virtue of this amendatory and supplementary act, P.L.1981, c.393, a deputy tax assessor or an assessor, and who has not met the requirements of (1) or (2) above shall not be removed during his term in office for political reasons, but only for good cause shown and after a proper hearing before the director or his designee after due notice. In municipalities operating under forms of government where the assessor served at the pleasure of the appointing authority for an unlimited term of office, receipt of a tax assessor certificate and continuance in service as assessor after completion of 4 consecutive years of service shall be deemed the equivalent of reappointment. The provisions of this section shall apply to every person actually in office as assessor or performing the duties of an assessor whether in the classified service under Title 11A, Civil Service, or in a municipality which has not adopted Title 11A, Civil Service. For the purpose of this section, "good cause" shall include the failure of a tax assessor to meet the continuing education requirement required by section 1 of P.L.1999, c.278 (C.54:1-35.25b), and the failure of a tax assessor to perform periodic municipal-wide reassessments of real property as the assessor deems necessary to ensure that, for every tax year, the ratio of assessed value to true value of the real property in the municipality by which the assessor is employed is not less than 90 percent or greater than 110 percent, as required in section 2 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), and such failure shall render a tax assessor ineligible for service as a tax assessor.
b. In the case of a pilot municipality, a tenured tax assessor may be dismissed to effectuate the sharing of a service entered into pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-1 et seq.) and such dismissal shall be deemed to be in the interest of the economy or efficiency of the participants in the shared service agreement. The removal of a tax assessor under this subsection shall not require the pilot municipality to fulfill the requirements of subsection a. of this section. Instead, the pilot municipality shall provide the tax assessor with a written copy of the shared service agreement entered into by the pilot municipality, and a letter stating that the position of tax assessor in the pilot municipality is being eliminated for reasons of economy or efficiency as the result of the shared service agreement.
(cf: P.L.2013, c.166, s.15)
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill revises how real property assessments are determined across the State. Current law requires that the standard in the State for the assessment of a parcel of real property is its "true value," which is essentially the market value of a parcel of real property. This bill would require that the true value of real property be determined by a municipal-wide reassessment of that real property performed by municipal assessors when the ratio of assessed value to true value is lower than 90 percent or greater than 110 percent. The failure of an assessor to perform these periodic municipal-wide reassessments and maintain the ratio of assessed to true value in the municipality at not less than 90 percent or greater than 110 percent in any tax year would be considered "good cause" for the removal of the assessor from his or her position.
The assessor of each municipality would be required to perform an initial municipal-wide reassessment of real property not later than January 1 of the third tax year next following the enactment of the bill, and then perform periodic reassessments as required by the bill.
