By Andrew Martins
Staff Writer
ALLENTOWN – Borough officials have hired an attorney who specializes in education issues as they continue to seek a solution to a looming hike in school taxes.
Attorney Vito Gagliardi Jr., of the firm Porzio, Bromberg and Newman, of Morristown, will help the municipality contest the 2016-17 school tax apportionment rate Allentown has been assigned in connection with the Upper Freehold Regional School District. The attorney will be paid $335 per hour.
Borough officials are objecting to and questioning the way state officials came up with Allentown’s net equalized value and the resulting 1.22 percent increase in the portion of the tax levy Allentown property owners must pay to support the school district.
“The calculation of the equalized property value formula which governs how Allentown is taxed to support the Upper Freehold Regional School District has imposed a substantially increased burden on the taxpayers of Allentown,” Gagliardi said on July 7.
Allentown and Upper Freehold Township comprise the Upper Freehold Regional School District and split the costs of operating the Newell Elementary School, the Stone Bridge Middle School and Allentown High School. Allentown’s share of the district’s tax levy has increased from 13.04 percent in 2015-16 to 14.26 percent for 2016-17, translating to an increase of about $530 in a property owner’s school taxes.
Out of more than a dozen property sales that occurred in Allentown between Jan. 1, 2015 and June 30, 2015, state taxation officials used three home sales to come up with a net equalized value for the borough. That calculation increased Allentown’s share of the school district’s tax levy, according to municipal officials.
According to tax collector Barbara Pater, the tax bills that will be due in August will reflect the tax increase. Tax bills are sent to residents on a quarterly basis, meaning the school tax increase will be pro-rated.
Allentown’s representatives reviewed the assessment methodology used to compute the borough’s school tax apportionment rate. Based on what officials said were documented errors in the assessment methodology, a request was made for a waiver of the current apportionment rate.
Borough officials have asked the town’s state representatives for assistance in the matter.
Gagliardi said his firm will examine all available information before determining whether Allentown has any legal recourse in the matter.
“We have been tasked with looking at (what) happened and ascertaining what, if anything, can be done about it,” he said. “We have a pretty good understanding of what the problem is, but the factual and legal analysis … is currently under way.”
He said that in the matter of the analysis, “time is of the essence” for taxpayers.
“It is clear to me that since the increase in the regional school tax imposes a burden of an extra $500 on the average assessed home, this is an issue of great significance for the residents of Allentown,” Gagliardi said. “We appreciate the opportunity to help the town address the issue.”
The Upper Freehold Regional School District Board of Education has adopted a $41.07 million budget for the 2016-17 school year. The budget will be supported by the collection of $25.19 million in taxes from residential and commercial property owners in Upper Freehold Township ($21.6 million) and Allentown ($3.59 million).
