In May, the Township Committee unanimously voted to hire a firm to begin a town-wide
property reassessment. Last week, homeowners should have received a letter from Mendham
Township Tax Assessor Scott Holzhauer notifying them of the program and providing further
details and background information. The goal is to ensure that all properties are assessed
fairly at a uniform level of assessment based on current market values.
An online Webinar explaining the reassessment process is scheduled for Tuesday, July 27th,
at 6:00pm. During this presentation, residents will have the opportunity to ask
questions.
The link to the Webinar is available at
njaag.com/mendham-township.
The Reassessment Program will help mitigate the Township’s largest financial risk - the
loss of revenue due to the number of tax appeals that are filed in Mendham Township every
year. Most recently, in both 2019 and 2020, the total tax loss for Mendham Township was
over $300K from decreasing assessments.
When taxes are paid to the Township, 80% of the tax money is distributed to the local and
regional school districts as well as the Morris County government, while about 20% is
allocated to the muncipality. However, when a tax appeal is settled, the municipality pays
the totality of the cost. This situation creates an enormous financial burden on the
Township and makes it difficult to forecast revenues.
Starting this month, Associated Appraisal Group, Inc., the group that the Township has
contracted to conduct the reassessment, will begin inspecting properties to complete a new
assessment for 2022. Following the 2022 initial assessment, 25% of the Township’s
properties will be inspected each year for the following four years. However, in order to
allow gradual adjustments to an assessment over time and avoid potentially larger shifts,
all properties in the municipality will be reassessed each year.
We hope that this information is helpful to you and your families. Enjoy the rest of your
weekend.
Sarah Neibart, Mayor
Nick Monaghan, Deputy Mayor
Tom Baio, Committee Member
Amalia Duarte, Committee Member
Jordan Orlins, Committee Member