| Author |
Message |
    
Fringe
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 8:40 am: |     |
Much has been written here regarding the impact of the new valuations on taxes. Generally speaking the calculations presented have used the multiplier of 2.66% times valuation to arrive at the tax due. (Apparently the extent of recent adjusted valuations has driven this to 2.75% which could go higher with appeals). While this may be accurate for current conditions, consider that in addition to
Maplewood expenses, property taxes must also cover a portion of the cost of Essex County government and the South Orange - Maplewood School District, as has been noted.
Because Essex County is composed of several different municipalities, few if any of whom have the same valuation date (Newark has not revalued for more than 40 years), and Maplewood and South Orange are 10 years out
of sync with each other, it is necessary to adjust the total book property values of each municipality to reach a fair apportionment of these joint expenses. Each year the Essex County Board of Taxation establishes equalization factors for each of the municipalities which are used to determine county taxes. The SO-M school tax levy is apportionesd between Maplewood and South Orange using the same county-generated factors. Apportionment of the actual tax is based upon the percentage relationship between the municipality's equalized property value to the total county or school district equalized property value.
The current total book property value based upon the last valuation for:
*Maplewood = $554.7 million
*South Orange = $ 997.9 million
The 2001 Equalization Factor for:
*Maplewood = .3224
*South Orange = .7953
Thus, The 2001 equalized property valuations for:
* Maplewood = $554.7 divided by .3224 = $1.721 billion equalized
* South Orange = $997.9 divided by .7953 = $1.255 billion equalized
Maplewood's equalized property value is $ 379 million less than the estimate of the new actual total property value of $2.1 billion stated
in a Township information post elsewhere.
Assuming Maplewood's equalization factor in the first year after revaluation = 1, the undervaluing of total municipal properties, seemingly inherent with the equalization process, will have significant consequences if not this year, then next, in the percentage of the county
and school budgets paid by Maplewoodians.
At Monday's school board meeting the district's business manager said that the new Maplewood valuations would not be used to pportion the school district taxes between Maplewood and South Orange until they are finally accepted by the Essex County Board of Taxation. He did not
believe that would occur before the Summer. Therefore, the actual reapportionment of school taxes between South Orange and Maplewood may not show itself in the school board 2001-2002 budget calculations, but appear, nevertheless, as a surprise in the tax notices later this year.
Assignment for the math wonks - If the total property tax to be raised to fund the SO-M school district is $62 million for 2001-2002, what
proportion of the total would Maplewood (or South Orange)
A. pay using the equalized valuation?
B. pay using the new actual Maplewood valuation?
C. How much more per $1000 of valuation will the Maplewood school tax be
under B. as compared to A.
Show your work.
Remember, this has nothing to do with the increase in school taxes (which will add even more), only the reapportionment of those taxes between the citizens of the two towns.
JTL |
Curmudgeon
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2001 - 8:41 am: | |
JTL - As you noted, South Orange's property valuation is 10 years out of date (as opposed to Maplewood's 20). Do you (or anyone else on this board) know if S-O is planning a re-val this year? (My understanding is that state law now requires re-valuation every 10 years). While S-O's value disparities may not be quite as extreme as Maplewood's, there have been a lot of changes in property values and in what neighborhoods are considered more desirable) in the last 10 years.
Even with new, post-reval, tax rates set to be revenue-neutral, the county and school district equalization rates would surely be affected by a South Orange re-val. |
Jln
| | Posted on Thursday, January 25, 2001 - 1:40 am: | |
Fringe knows the answer . . . or at least has an educated guess. Come on Fringe, spill the beans. |
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