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I did look in the Heights, and at one point considered a small row house with a nice yard. The tax on that was roughly $6,800 a year. The taxes are lower in the Heights because the property values are generally lower compared to downtown on a price per square foot basis. I have a lot of friends who live up there and they love it (plus you get more home for the money there), but they did warn me that it would be hard to live there without a car. Any tax savings I might've gained from living there would've been more than negated by the cost of owning and insuring a car (and there's no income tax deduction for that as there is for property tax )

Ok did some digging and found out why the huge spike for 4Q11. Turns out my unit had a partial assessment because it was under the ownership of a developer. Even though we bough in Oct 2009 the tax board only does one reassassment per year (4Q).

So they adjusted the appraised value from ~50k to 100k following our purchase. They then back date it to make up for the unpaid taxes during the last few quarters under the newly assessed rate. Looking at the property ratio of 31% and mil rate of $70 the taxes actually look fair at 7k per year. We'll still be subject to reval, which they said has not started in downtown area yet. Hopefully the reval gets other properties way up so we can lower our own tax bill. Thanks to everyone on this board that helped us figure out exactly what was going on.

Really wish out RE lawyer would have mentioned that we were being only partially appraised. Might have changed our minds about buying. Wonder if we have any recourse almost 2 years after the fact.

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Thats crazy or appropriate depening on the area. I see small houses cheaper than that condo tax rate you speak of. Most condos in the Heights have a tax bill no higher than $4k. Even though the tax rates are the same across the board in J.C. each area has a different market value which the rates are based upon. I hope knowing that the abatements were about to expire you were prepared to pay the normal higher tax bill.

We didn't receive a thing expect for the new assessment value in the mail.

Sorry -- I was interchanging the terms. I realize the reval comes after the citywide visitations.

But do they send you any notice of roughly when they would be coming to make a property visit?

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I hear ya. I went through the same thing a couple of years ago and took a serious look at some of the North Jersey suburbs. I can't speak to CT, but the taxes are outrageous pretty much anywhere you go in NJ. But moving to the 'burbs comes with other costs: higher commuting costs (plus more time eaten by the commute) as well as the cost of car ownership. Luckily, I don't have kids, so schools weren't a consideration for me.

After crunching all the numbers and considering the lifestyle changes, I decided to stay put in JC but did move to a condo with a 20-year PILOT. For the record, I pay about $7,000 for 800 sqf under the PILOT (dispelling the notion some have on JC List that condo owners in PILOT buildings pay nothing in taxes). The only good news is this tax is locked for the next 20 years and can't go up. That's important considering the spending addiction city officials have. At my old, unabated condo, I watched the property tax shoot up from $6500 to over $9,000 in just a few short years, thanks to double-digit increases in the tax rate nearly every year.

I'm hoping this reval will shake people out of their apathy and make them angry enough to show up to vote at local elections.

It's likely not down to the reval - you would have received a letter after Nov 10th.

See:
http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/tax_assessment.aspx?id=6312



When Will I Be Notified About My New Assessment?

Once all of the values have been determined by the revaluation firm, the Tax Assessor will conduct a review, and either approve the values, or modify them. After the review and modification are completed, the revaluation firm will mail a notification letter to each property owner in the city. By regulation, this letter cannot be mailed before November 10th of the year the reval is conducted.

What Should I Do When I Receive The Value Notification Letter?

Read the Value Notification Letter carefully. In it you will find not only the new valuation of your property, but instructions on how to proceed, depending on whether or not you agree with your property's assessment. If you believe the new valuation is an appropriate assessment of your property?s value, and in line with recent sales in your vicinity, you don't need to take any action.

If, however, you disagree with the appraisal or would just like to review it with the revaluation firm, you should call the phone number provided in the Value Notification letter and schedule an appointment to discuss your new valuation.

How Are The Reviews Conducted?

Informal reviews will be held in a convenient location in Jersey City, at or near City Hall. They will be scheduled on a variety of days, including Saturdays. They will also be held from early mornings to the evenings, in order to accommodate a variety of schedules.

A member of the revaluation firm will meet with you at the review. He or she will review the property record card, make sure the data is accurate, show you which sales were used in determining your valuation, and listen to anything you wish to tell them about your property.

If you have any information that might lead to a revision of your property's valuation, the informal review is the time to present it to the representative of the revaluation firm.

After your informal review, you will receive a second letter informing you as to whether or not your valuation has been revised.

What Is My Recourse After The Informal Review?

If you are not satisfied with the result of the informal review, you may file an assessment appeal with the Hudson County Board of Taxation. This appeal must be filed on or before May 1st of the tax year.

When Will I Know What My New Taxes Are?

The new assessments will become effective on January 1st of the tax year following the receipt of your change of assessment. For example, if you receive your Value Notification Letter on November 10, 2012, then your new assessment becomes effective on January 1, 2013.

However, the new tax rate is not determined until the municipal, county and school budgets are established in the late spring/early summer of the year. The third and fourth quarter tax bills will be adjusted to account for any under or over payment made in the first two quarters of the year.

If I?m Not Happy With My Assessment After My Informal Review, How Do I Appeal My Taxes?

You don?t appeal your taxes. You appeal your assessment.

An appeal before the Hudson County Board of Taxation or the Tax Court concerns only your assessment (i.e. the market value of your property). The County Tax Board commissioners cannot change the amount of taxes you pay, short of determining that your assessment does not reflect the market value.

Market value is proved by presenting to the Board evidence of sales of properties that are comparable to your property in size, age, condition and location.

So for example, all the property sales which you bring to the board as evidence must have occurred on or before October 1st of the pre-tax year.

We received the same notice and then the reval just showed up one day. No one every tried to come into the house, as far as we know at least.

If they don't lower it, these rates pretty much force me to consider moving to some place where I can at least use the schools and enjoy a backyard. 7k for 800 sq ft or go move to CT and pay 10k for a 2500 sq ft home in surburbia. seems like a no brainer.

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I have not had a reval yet on a rental property in the heights. Beyond the city-wide notifcation last year of the intended reval, I have seen absolutely nothing.

Is there supposed to be a subsequent mailing telling you roughly when to expect a visit?

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If you were making two hefty payments in May and November, that means you were on a PILOT. Unabated properties have their payments broken up into four, roughly equal chunks each quarter. It's unlikely you had a PILOT unless you're in one of those big waterfront buildings. Smaller developments in the historic districts can qualify for five-year abatements in which $25k is knocked off the assessed value.

It sucks seeing your property tax bill double, but $7,000 for the square footage you mentioned sounds about right to me for an unabated property. Was your condo built/converted more than 10 years ago? I had a condo in the VVP area that was built just as the boom was getting underway and the taxes on it now are approaching $10,000 for 1,000 square feet.

The appeal process is tricky, and while you may win some reduction in your assessment, it may not be as much as you hoped for. The implied value may sound ridiculous given real market conditions, but one of the things they'll look at is how similar properties in the same neighborhood are assessed. So if your neighbors are all in the same boat assessment-wise, you may not have much of a case. The whole point of the reval is to bring older properties, whose assessed values haven't been updated, in line with newer ones - and to provide some relief for those who were overpaying because their assessments were made at the height of the bubble.

Thanks for the links and all of the info. From what I've gathered the hike is from the new assessment. Is there a specific PILOT list I can check just to make sure?

I'm surprised the added assessment is being applied for the entire prior year and summed up in my 4Q bill. So I owe an extra $3,200 in the 4Q bill and then the next 1Q bill is when the pro-rata $800 per quarter extra occurs. That's a hefty backlog they stuck on me.

Using the current JC RE rates, they are valuing g my property at $496k. That implies over 25% appreciation in the last 2 years since our purchase.

I'm liking my chances at a reduction....hopefully, not famously last words.

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7k/year for an unabated property doesn't sound outrageous for Jersey City. What happens with new developments is that they get 5, 10 year abatements, or "pilots" that reduce property taxes by a lot for a given period. When the abatement runs out, the property owner has to pay the full property tax bill.

That's the most likely explanation - your property's abatement has expired, and you are now paying the full bill. The other possible explanations:
- Your property was included in the City-wide re-assessment - not likely to impact your bill until next year at the earliest.
- Your property was improved and given an increased assessment.

You should be able to see your property card record under
www.hudsoncountytax.com
this is the basis of your full bill from the City shown under:
https://www.cityofjerseycity.com/WebTaxInquiry/AccountSearch.aspx

You cannot appeal your property tax bill until Feb of next year I think (the county website is down at the moment so I can't post the links). This is a good site for use in an appeal:

www.easytaxfix.com

Also as Glitterqueen indicated, the JC Tax Office at the JC City Hall are very, very helpful, and as good a set of public employees that you could hope to deal with.

PS: Before an appeal, I was paying around 22k for 2,300 sq ft. Your 7k for 860 sq ft looks cheap to me. The real issue is City and County spending. Use your vote wisely.

My residence has not been assessed yet. But I do note my property taxes have been raised a minute sum. I already pay a hefty amount and presumed my taxes would actually go down. Anyone else not get assessed yet?

Sheesh thanks. The added amount equals what is on the updated property records website. Can't believe they went from 3,800 to 7,000. Does anyone know where I can find the date of the last appraisal prior to this one? Just curious what my base year should be.

Does 7k a year sound about right for 860 sq ft in VP?

I got the same thing. I am at Dixon Mills and purchased an apartment in the end of march. I freaked out when i saw this and couldn't understand what was going on. In my case, the developer had paid a 100 bucks to get a partial assessment. At the end of the year JC has to fix the books and charge the correct amount of taxes.

I would REALLY suggest going down to the tax assessors office at city hall. They are fabulous. They will explain it all to you. It all makes sense once you understand why it happened. They are the NICEST people I have ever dealt with in government. I went in there freaking out and ready to scream and they were incredible.

Your bill is now what the first document said + the additional amount. If you look at document sent for the taxes for 2012 you will see that your total tax amount is far more than what you are paying out each quarter. if you add the additional amount to the additional tax assessment it should all end up equaling the total.

May seem like a dumb question, but I just want to make I'm looking at this correctly. Picked up my added tax assessment and my 4Q bill (due Nov 1) is now $3,200 while the prior preliminary 4Q bill we received a month or back had that amount at $950. Is the entire 2011 assessment just added into the 4Q?

I'm confused if my 2012 Q1 tax bill is the new amount on the assessment form we just received (which is about $800 quarterly) or if that $800 is in addition to the previously stated Q1 amount of $950. Did they really just raise my tax to $1,750 per Q from 950? I jut don't understand why the newly assessed and prior bills are separate.

I would love to know what my full total amount should be before I start the appeals process. Hard to swallow taxes going from $3,800 per year to $7,000.

Thanks for the help.