Gopal Bill to Modernize Pilot Property Tax Assessment Program Advances 

Trenton –Recognizing the difficulties created for property tax assessment programs by the coronavirus pandemic, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee today approved legislation to modernize assessment and appeals processes for counties participating in a pilot assessment program.

“These changes should make it easier for participating municipalities to carry out property inspections and tax assessments by allowing for virtual internal inspection and appeal-hearing processes,” said Senator Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth), the bill’s sponsor. “Creating these virtual alternatives for residents will also create an efficient way to allow assessors to conduct assessment functions during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”

The bill, S-2725, would revise and clarify other processes related to the assessment of real property in counties that operate under the “Real Property Assessment Demonstration Program,” which is currently being piloted in Monmouth, Gloucester, and Burlington counties.

Under that program, municipal-wide reassessments are performed annually in order to maintain assessments of all parcels of real property at their current market value. The program also created an alternative assessment calendar under which a county’s board of taxation can decide property tax appeals prior to the adoption of municipal budgets, thus providing towns with more certainty and flexibility as they proceed through the budgeting process.

“Government services need to be creative and need to be flexible,” said Gopal. “We can learn lessons about how we perform basic functions and provide services to taxpayers more easily and more efficiently, especially in these days when so much of their world has been turned upside down by the pandemic.”

The bill was released from committee by a vote of 12-0.