After you have received your annual tax assessment notice and have had the opportunity to compare your assessment to the market value of your property, you will have an educated idea of the fairness of your assessment. If you have specific questions in this regard, please feel free to contact this office weekdays between 8:30 A.M. and 4:30 P.M. to schedule an appointment for further review. If after review you are not satisfied that the assessed value of your property reflects a lawful relationship to market value, you may wish to file a formal tax appeal. You must contact the Ocean County Tax Board at the address and phone number on the reverse of your Tax Assessment Notice. A review of some common misconceptions in this regard will assist you in your decision to proceed:
1. Land and building assessments cannot be appealed separately
2. Property taxes are not an issue during an appeal since the Assessor’s Office and County Tax Board has no control over the budgets submitted by the Municipality, County and/or school systems.
3. The municipality cannot accept for filing a petition intended for the County Tax Board.
4. The filing deadline is April 1st of the tax year at issue. Filed means received at the offices of the Ocean County Tax Board, Washington Street, Courthouse, Toms River, New Jersey.
5. Comparable assessments of other properties are not acceptable as evidence of the value of your property.
6. Assessments cannot be avoided by the failure or refusal to obtain a certificate of occupancy from the Construction Department.
7. Payment of the first quarter real estate taxes and municipal charges (water, sewer, etc.) are a pre-condition to the satisfactory completion of the appeal process.
While this office neither encourages nor discourages the filing of tax appeals generally, we will attempt to resolve discrepancies by stipulation if at all ethically possible. If the assessment is defensible, we will provide the taxpayer with supporting evidence to defend the assessed values placed upon the Tax list. A settlement stipulation completed sufficiently in advance of a scheduled appeal hearing will serve to avoid an unnecessary appearance before the Ocean County Tax Board at the designated hearing location.
We trust that the information provided here, although not all-inclusive, will help you in understanding the functions of our office and assist you in your quest for public information and service.