| Author | Message | ||
     Dave23 |
I think some words of support for Vic, Jerry and the Township Committee are in order. I truly believe that they are committed to finding a fair and equitable solution to this very serious problem. I was at the meeting last night and I felt that Vic ran it as well as can be expected. There have been numerous personal attacks on Vic and Jerry on this board and elsewhere. While I understand people's frustration, little can be gained from these attacks. I really feel that the committee listened last night. Also, I'm one of those seeing a potential 50% increase. While I feel that this is grossly unfair (especially considering I bought only last August), I do not feel that others should pick up the tab for me. Certified screwed up by skewing the rates toward the 2000 bubble (atop which I bought). For the most part, we have approached this problem with a passionate but reasonable approach. We have made our voices heard and the committee has listened. Please understand that I am nonetheless deeply concerned about what my actual rate will be. Even if adjustments are made, I have a feeling that I'll be facing a 30-40% penalty. But I'm comfortable knowing that when I walk into Town Hall, they will listen and do what they can within the straightjacket that Trenton has put us in. | ||
| Nilmiester |
You must be new to the area to think that. They will do what they want. As expressed so well by Mr. Eugene McNany: The township has raided surplus pool funds, taken surplus library funds and is trying to hire a Police Director at your expense. You taxes will continue to go up with the beautification of Springfield Avenue. But go ahead trust them. You would never know most of Maplewood moved here from New York City, where most people don't buy the Brooklyn Bridge. | ||
| Jotaese |
The mayor was unprepared for what was anticipated to be a very large turnout last night. The mayor and the committee were unprepared last year for what were expected to be substantial issues raised as a consequence of a revaluation that was fifteen years overdue. Yes, they listened, but I'm not convinced from their remarks that they understood. The citizens are looking for leadership in this crisis. But the only leadership I saw came from the bottom up. The various speakers offered solutions: the committee merely excuses and apologies. Statements by the mayor and committee indicate that they see resolution as a burden of the individual homeowners in seeking redress with the certification company and the tax assessor. In the committee remarks after the break, it is clear that there is confusion and differences among the members as to what approach should be taken immediately to seek a resolution to the tax issue. If we can't get a united and proactive body to represent us on this isssue, then the committee as a whole should step aside. Since this is unlikely, the citizens should pursue other recourse - including a recall of the mayor and all committee members. | ||
| Ironman |
Yeah, and which of you armchair quarterbacks are going to step-up and take this kind of abuse for a part-time job? Which one of you folks who enjoy hiding behind the annonimity of this board are going to have the cajones to stand in the fire when tough decisions have to be made? | ||
| Jotaese |
Hey, they wanted the job, and now they've got it. If they're not up to it - move on. By the way - it's cojones, ironboy | ||
| Overtaxdalready |
Hey, tough guy, the folks who stood up last night at the meeting were hardly hiding behind the anonimity of this board. And they expressed the same opinions you read here. | ||
| Tracks |
I agree with Dave 23 and ironman. The board understands,,, just because you do not get the answer you want does not mean they did not try or do the right thing. Considering that most meetings only a few people show up, and that almost noone showed up when the reval process was started and discussed at the meetings, it certainly is surprising the number of monday morning quarterbacks who show up and then speak their mind with the safety of 20-20 hindsight and no real solution. Revals suck. always will, but they are a fact of life in NJ. | ||
| Guycaruso |
If we were keeping score last night , the town's people blew out the Committee. It wasn't even close. In fact two members were leaning toward throwing out the evaluations and agreeing with the speakers. I guess if you drop $395,000 on a reval , you will defend it to the end. | ||
| Thomas |
Support them? You must be kidding. They need to support us in our efforts to try scrap this reval. Vic is just worried about the east side of town. He basicly said it last night. Remember thats who put hime in office. Remember the east side had all these years to appeal there taxes, I'm sure some did. If they were overtaxed it would have come out the appeal process. ASSESSED VALUE x ASSESSED RATIO = MARKET VALUE I believe the assessed ratio is .4 example: 66,000 / .4 = 165,000 You want support, here it is, Vic did do a good job running a very difficult meeting last night, he allowed everyone to speak. How much did he hear thats another question. Vic is quite the politician, i must say, This seems like just stepping stone for him. | ||
| Ironman |
Didn't Vic and Jerry win by about 6,000 votes? In fact, they won by more votes than our nex President. You can look it up. The "East" side did not just vote for them. The whole damn town did ... | ||
| Lseltzer |
Thomas: the east side didn't put Vic into office. The election results are still up at http://ryandeluca.pair.com/. Ryan and DeLuca won 71.5% of the vote overall and they won every single precinct in town. The least they got in a precinct was 56.67%, and they won 19 of the 23 precincts by over 60%. | ||
| Nilmiester |
Yes, Vic and Jerry won by a large margin. It proves you can do anything you want in this town, use surplus pool funds and say you didn't and still win. If the reval numbers came out end of October instead of Dec. 7th, they would have still won but not by that much. I wonder how Ellen Davenport feels about being hung out to dry this year? Too bad, she seems like a nice lady but this will all be forgotten by November, trust me. | ||
| Nohero |
AGAIN with the facts! Why do you insist on ruining the fun for these guys by using the actual election results, Larry?  | ||
| Ironman |
So, if Jerry and Vic were such bums, why did the whole town vote for them? Truth is, they are not bums ... I voted for them and will vote for them again. I will vote for Ellen too. Politics is often about hard choices. Someone's got to make them and these decisions ain't always gonna be popular. | ||
| Nicky |
Obviously, the whole town didn't vote for them. L: what precinct was the lowest. | ||
| Tom |
Thomas, scrapping the reval isn't the answer. Property in the west has risen a lot more in value than property in the east. Taxes there are going to go up. Period. The only question is, how much. It sounded to me like Vic wanted to re-do large swaths of town, looking at the last three years' worth of comps. Why would that be inadequate, and what would a new reval do differently than that? | ||
| Mlj |
On one hand, I have sympathy for the mayor and TC. I was taken aback by the rowdiness last night, screaming out, and such. And personal insults to the TC (one woman said they were sinking low into their chairs, accused them of not listening and reading books). I realize people are letting off steam, but that conduct doesn't get us anything. On the other hand, I feel it is apparent that they were asleep at the wheel concerning this process. There was the man who viewed this reval work as an assignment by one party (TC) to another party (Certified), of a project (reval), with the TC as Project Manager, responsible for setting up scheduled, ongoing review of the work. What was done in this regard, he asked. Considering that the TC has admitted to being just as surprised as the rest of us, it appears that they were remiss in their duty. Difficulty communicating with Certified, getting copies of their reports on your home, not getting an explanation of how they arrived at their figures, combined with the impression given by the TC that you were pretty much on your own in looking out for your interests has scared and enraged people. It will be difficult for the TC to restore trust. Then there was the real estate agent from town who pointed out problems with the assessments, and said he and his colleagues could help with the comps. And the real estate attorney who was reading from (I think NJ Statute concerning assessments(?) which also put into question the work of Certified. Some positive thoughts: I think (hope) the TC finally gets it that lots and lots of people are mighty upset about how they have been treated, how the assessment was handled, and how are they going to justify staying here, after having to go through tax appeals, etc. Also, so many Maplewood residents truly love this town, have put up with the high taxes all along, and would welcome a resolution to this crises in order to preserve our town. | ||
| Overtaxdalready |
Ok, so "the whole town voted for them". That doesn't change the fact that the TC did an extraordinarily poor job in managing this entire project, from not understanding (or choosing to ignore) the impact of Certified's decision to use only one year to do the revals to the actual communication of the results. | ||
| Lseltzer |
Nicky, You could look at the URL I provided yourself. The lowest margin was in precinct 18 - no, I don't know where that is, but it's the smallest precinct by far: DeLuca 62 Ryan 57 Marzano 46 Pomasan 45 Perhaps The Top has its own precinct? According to Jerry's reval statistics there are 92 homes there. | ||
| Thomas |
yes they did get large percent of the vote. So what. What I said still stands. Can you tell me why his assessment is so low. is all of the hilton section this low? If so than I know why my taxes are going up 5k. |
