By KAYLA J. MARSH
Staff Writer
SHREWSBURY — After spending time weighing facts and gaining input from local leaders and surrounding municipalities, the Borough Council unanimously voted to opt back into the Monmouth County Reassessment Demonstration Program.
The decision occurred at the council’s May 2 meeting, where a resolution was adopted stating that the borough will re-enter the program for one year, subject to review at the end of the term.
“We reviewed it all and we thought it would be best to get back in,” Mayor Donald Burden said in a voicemail.
“Our appeals are down, so in the long term, it is a cost savings for us.”
At an April 4 council meeting, officials welcomed Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth) and Monmouth County Board of Taxation Commissioner Cliff Moore to discuss the program and the benefits and cons of participating and to answer questions to help officials make the best decision.
“After the entire program was vetted, we had input from County Tax Administrator Matthew Clark and Assemblyman O’Scanlon who took time to answer questions council members had,” Burden said. “They were answered to [council’s] satisfaction and also a couple of people from the town who showed up at the meeting were also satisfied.
“I think once citizens of the town understand the ramifications of it, they’ll agree that we made the right decision.”
Under the demonstration program, 20 percent, or one-fifth, of properties in a municipality are inspected each year so that 100 percent of properties are inspected every five years.
According to the resolution passed by the governing body, reviews made by the Monmouth County Board of Taxation of the program after a number of municipalities opted out “addressed the overall equity of the program, the application of the Freeze Act, the reduction in the number of tax appeals in 2016, the ability of the Municipal Tax Assessor to modify individual assessments without the necessity for formal proceedings, the reduction of costs to the municipality, and various other administrative modifications.
“The Borough of Shrewsbury is satisfied that these are positive changes for the taxpayers in the Borough and throughout Monmouth County and is willing to return to the program for a limited time period to determine if the changes are a permanent, positive fix, and also to await the outcome of the ongoing criminal investigation [of the Demonstration Program].”
According to the resolution, the decision is temporary and will be revisited by the borough within one year or upon completion of the criminal investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, “whichever occurs first.”
“Shrewsbury’s officials are to be commended for studying the program and the data behind it,” O’Scanlon said in a prepared statement May 3. “Their conclusion was sound: the ‘pilot’ program is far superior to the alternative, outdated methods of assessing properties in a given municipality.
“I hope more localities do their homework and follow the lead of Shrewsbury Borough.”
