Residents sue over town's tax formula
Monroe's newer homes are unfairly assessed, lawsuit argues
BY JESSICA SMITH
Staff Writer

A group of citizens filed suit against Monroe Town-ship Friday saying they've been unfairly taxed and seeking to force a townwide revaluation.

The Concerned Citizens of Monroe Township consists of more than 1,000 homeowners who have investigated what they believe to be unfair property tax assessments. Residents of two senior communities, Regency at Monroe and Renaissance at Monroe, and other homeowners claim the township has not uniformly assessed properties in town and that it artificially inflated a ratio used to determine each home's assessment.

Monroe's last townwide revaluation took place in 1993, and the homeowners in question say that residents of homes built since that time are paying too much in property taxes. They said their research indicates that homeowners in newer communities such as Regency and Renaissance are paying about 70 percent more, and in some instances double, the taxes paid by residents of similar homes in the town's older communities.

The lawsuit was filed by residents John E. Keane, Gerald Krzyzkowski, Norman Rubenstein and Frank A. Giubileo on behalf of the group.

"The Concerned Citizens of Monroe Township are deeply disturbed by the irregularities found in Monroe's assessment ratio," said Jeff Gordon, a real estate tax appeal attorney with Archer & Greiner, Princeton, which is representing the plaintiffs.

The tax assessment ratio is a guide used to convert market values of properties into taxable assessments. The citizens' group is saying that the town excluded about 300 properties from its evaluation, which would determine the assessment ratio over the two-year sample period of July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2004, according to the suit. Of the 300 exclusions, they said, all were properties that would have decreased the town's overall assessment ratio.

According to the lawsuit, taxation officials claimed the reason for the exclusions was that they would have distorted the ratio. The residents argue however that the ratio is in fact distorted because it has included only those properties that increase it.

"Whatever the explanation may be, we are confident that the court will order a revaluation," Gordon said. "We see no other way to correct this situation."

The citizens' group has tried to correct the situation by working with the township, they said, but were met with little success. After a failed request for a township-wide revaluation from the township attorney and tax assessor in 2005, the concerned citizens met with the state taxation division. They discovered that the division was unwilling, based on policy, to order a revaluation within any municipality.

From there, they took their grievances to the Middlesex County Board of Taxation. Like the state office, the board seemed to sympathize with the residents' complaints, but it would not order a revaluation because of its own policy. The board suggested taking the matter to court, the residents said.

After township officials were alerted to the residents' claims, the township's assessment ratio dropped by 14 percent for the 2007 tax year, the residents said. The decrease is more than double the average annual decrease in the years since 2000, they noted. The residents, however, are dissatisfied with the drop, as it does not cover past years' discrepancies.

The township, mayor, council and tax assessor are all named as defendants in the lawsuit. Also named are the Middlesex County Board of Taxation, along with its commissioners, as well as the New Jersey Division of Taxation and its director.

"We're obligated to defend the suit, but the mayor and council are not involved in that process," Township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton said. "The township does not direct the assessor in his formulas and methodologies."

Township Attorney Joel Shain echoed Hamilton's statement, saying the mayor and council are prohibited by law from taking any part in the actions of the tax assessor.