North Wildwood Revals

Final revals sent, North Wildwood braces for appeals
By TRUDI GILFILLIANStaff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Thursday, February 16, 2006
Updated: Thursday, February 16, 2006

Tax assessor Joseph Gallagher doesn't mind getting calls from property owners who want to discuss assessments they consider too high.

“I'm more concerned with people that don't call,” Gallagher said, noting that the under-assessed are much less likely to complain.

On Friday, the city sent out its final assessments to all North Wildwood property owners following last year's revaluation by Tyler Technologies/CLT Division.

The new figures follow a round of hearings in January between owners who disagreed with the new property values and the revaluation company.

Joe Pizzoli, project manager for the company, said its final role is to help provide testimony and defend the values when taxpayers appeal their new values to the Cape May County Board of Taxation.

But before taxpayers take their disagreements to the county level, Gallagher offered some advice about how to proceed.

Gallagher suggested homeowners ask three real estate companies to come up with an independent value for their homes.

If the three companies come up with values in the same range as the assessment, an appeal may not be necessary.

On the other hand, if the three all value the property well below the assessment, then an appeal may be an option.

Homeowners can also hire professional appraisers for a more formal evaluation.

Gallagher encouraged property owners to then talk with him first before filing the formal appeal.

“One of the greatest deficiencies I have is the inability to be clairvoyant,” Gallagher said, explaining that homeowners should provide all the information they have about their properties to come up with a fair assessment.

April 1 is the deadline to file an appeal with the county.

The number of owners who will appeal is anyone's guess, but Gallagher estimated between 5 and 9 percent of the city's property owners will appeal.

The city has 6,989 ratable pieces of property and about 6,500 of those are residential.

“I was surprised in 2005 in Wildwood when the local appeals were below 5 percent,” he said.

The surprise of the island's rising real estate prices is starting to wear off, although the numbers are much different than they were just three years ago.

“I was getting deeds for $50,000 for duplexes in Wildwood in 2000. In 2004, they were selling for $350,000 as a tear down,” Gallagher said.