In preparation for the 2016 tax year, Plainsboro authorized a reassessment of all properties at the township committee meeting April 8.
Professional Property Appraisers Inc., based in Delran, will assist the Tax Assessor’s office. Plainsboro Assessor Thomas Mancuso says the plan is to conduct inspections from May through July and complete the reassessment process in time for next year. Residents will receive mailed notices in advance of the inspections, which will be conducted in two-week intervals for each neighborhood. Assessment personnel are registered with the police department and will carry ID.
This year’s reassessment is a follow-up to the more comprehensive revaluation done in 2005. Mancuso says the reassessment is to update property values in response to the recent uptick in residential sales.
“Everyone is supposed to be taxed at full market value,” Mancuso says. “The market is starting to go up again, and not everyone goes up at the same time. Someone who is assessed lower is not picking up the share of the burden, and that means someone else is. You want to equalize.”
In addition to bringing underassessed properties back up to market value for a more equitable tax distribution, the township aims for an assessment to sale price ratio of 96.15 percent. Ratios have gone down as the increasing number of apartment and single family home sales drive up market values. This leaves the township vulnerable to appeals from its many commercial properties. Commerical owners can cite declining ratios to support claims of overassessment.
Property owners with an increase in assessed value will most likely see an increase in their property taxes. However, reassessment does not equate to overall tax increases, which are determined by the school district, county, and municipal budgets.
