Roughly 3.5 percent of the property owners in town have scheduled formal reviews with Appraisal Systems, Inc. (ASI) following reassessment, according to township assessor Dennis DeKlerk.
ASI completed the reassessment at the end of 2012 and has been meeting with property owners the last couple weeks. As of late last week, approximately 260 property owners—out of 7,300 properties in town—had requested to meet with ASI, DeKlerk said.
Considering there are more than 7,000 properties in town, he didn't consider that to be a high number.
ASI extended the review period from the original deadline, which was this Thursday. Property owners now have until next Tuesday, Feb. 12, to discuss their new values with the firm.
Though there has been some grumbling about the new values—particularly from those whose taxes went up—DeKlerk said he's pleased with the results for the most part.
"So far, I think the numbers are in line with the current market we have," he said.
According to the initial results of the reassessment, , to $3.9 billion.
(Click on the attached PDF to see the numbers in more detail.)
DeKlerk has monitored ASI’s progress throughout the reassessment and has been in close communication with the firm. During the process, he has been keeping an eye out in particular for properties that had their values reduced last year due to appeals.
“I wanted to make sure those numbers remained intact for this year, because the market hasn’t really changed (since last year),” he said, adding that he noticed a couple inconsistencies, which he can address internally.
According to DeKlerk, the deadline for formal appeals to be filed with the Burlington County Board of Taxation has also been extended until May 1 for any community that underwent a reassessment or revaluation in 2012.
He said Moorestown is one of several Burlington County municipalities that had reassessments/revaluations last year.
To schedule an appointment with ASI, contact the firm directly at 201-493-8530 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
I looked at the last 184 homes sold ($300k and up) from 9/2011 to 12/2012 (most recent data avail on Zillow). I found the following: 80% (147 of the 180 homes) had ASI assessments lower than the sale price. 33% of the homes had ASI assessments at least 10% lower than actual sale price 16% of the homes had ASI assessments at least 15% lower than actual sale price and 7% of the homes had ASI assessments at least 20% lower than actual sale price Overall, my sample - again the most recent 180 sales - showed the average assessment value was 7% lower than actual sale price. I understand that the assessment process doesn't always reflect actual market conditions but it seems to me this is artificially low.