Long Branch Property Revaluation Set For 2014

By Christopher Sheldon

All Long Branch properties will be part of a revaluation in 2014.

"We've been ordered by the tax board to do a revaluation of all city properties," Long Branch Chief Financial Officer Ron Mehlhorn said.

Mehlhorn said the order came down from the county because "nobody has been inside the houses for 10 years."

A revaluation is a program undertaken by a municipality to appraise all real property within the taxing district according to its full and fair value, according to the state treasury.

"A revaluation program seeks to spread the tax burden equitably within a municipality," according to the treasury. "Real property must be assessed at the same standard of value to ensure that every property owner is paying his or her fair share of the property tax."

In order for the revaluation to occur, the Long Branch Council had to make a special emergency appropriation of $700,000 to go out to bid to hire a firm to complete the work.

The city passed the ordinance so the revaluation can take place in 2014 and be on the books by 2015, Mehlhorn said.

Reassessments have been done in the city in the past, but revaluations are more thorough and look at the interior and exterior of properties.