QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
By Bernie C. Haney, Neptune Twp Assessor
I was just inspected in 2014. Why am I being inspected again?
In 2014 Neptune Township performed a Revaluation in order to bring the entire town from a fractional assessment to “market value” The revaluation was put into effect for the 2015 tax year. During a revaluation ALL properties are inspected. Starting on January 1st, 2015 the Township implemented the first year of the Assessment Demonstration Program. A part of that program is that all properties in town be inspected again over a five year cycle, so from 2015 to 2020 we will be inspecting the entire town ONCE. Anyone inspected in 2016 will not be inspected again until after 2020. The 2014 data is being verified by the data collectors from RDS (The inspection company).
What information is the inspectors gathering?
The Data Collectors will be looking for the same information that we collected during revaluations. The information includes when was the house built, the type of heat, whether there is air conditioning, number of rooms, number of bathrooms, and all measurements on the exterior of the house will be confirmed. They will also take pictures of each house for our data base.
How many inspections will there be in the next five years?
Every property will be inspected ONCE in the next five years.
What happens with the data they collect?
The data that is collected is transmitted to our office for review and after review it is loaded into the Neptune data base to insure that we have the most current data.
What happens if I don’t let them in? Can’t you use the data collected in 2014?
I would strongly suggest that you allow the Data Collectors to inspect your property. It is in everyone’s best interest that the data on your property be correct. Many people in the last two years who did not allow the Revaluation Inspectors into their house had assessments that were incorrect due to data errors. If we can’t inspect the property we will have to guess what is in there, and that does not give us correct data.
Please explain the process so that the public can understand?
Process is as follows:
- Each town is inspected once every five years,
- Each town is reassessed EVERY YEAR to market value from 2015 forward,
- The town will be reassessed to market value in 2018, and postcard notices will be sent out in November of 2018.
- The same process will occur each year going forward.
What is the difference between revaluation and reassessment and when do they occur?
A Revaluation is a reassessment to market value performed by an outside vender at a cost of about $750,000 to Neptune Township. A Reassessment is the same as a Revaluation, however, it is performed by Neptune Assessment Staff, and as part of the Assessment Demonstration Program the Neptune Assessment Staff will be performing Reassessments on an ANNUAL BASIS.
