Reval in North Wildwood

Reval raises ire in North Wildwood
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Updated: Wednesday, March 8, 2006

NORTH WILDWOOD — Hundreds of frustrated taxpayers packed the Community Center on Tuesday night looking for answers from City Council.

Many came from out-of-state, some even came by bus, and all were eager to know what they could do to fight what they believe are unfair assessments of their properties.

None had a good word to say about Tyler Technologies/CLT Divison, the company which performed the city's revaluation, and some had what the applause indicated was the only real solution.

“I think we should throw them out and start all over again,” property owner Ron Shelly said to a round of applause.

The city has withheld its final payment to the company, which has a $450,000 contract with the city to complete the revaluation. City officials added that Tyler was the lone company to bid on the revaluation and was authorized by the state to conduct revaluations.

Shelly said the process has been fraught with problems, including the unsatisfactory informal meetings between property owners and Tyler, and news that those same owners can meet with Tyler again.

“Aren't we all excited?” Shelly joked.

“Everybody's heads are spinning (over the process),” Shelly said. He recalled instances where one owner was credited for having a cottage on his property. It was a storage shed. Others were assessed for having homes with heat that in fact stay cold all winter long, he said.

Following the revaluation, the city's value jumped from $866 million to about $3.35 billion. Most property owners saw their values jump, many of them more than four times their previous value.

Shelly said real estate sales appear to be slowing down, and owners are being penalized for the past boom in the market.

“We're paying for what happened,” he said.

Joe Brennan, another property owner, said the new values and the tax increases that would follow were changing the face of the city.

The city's tax rate is expected to drop from a total of $2.56 per $100 of assessed property valuation to 70 cents, but what individual taxpayers pay will vary.

“Do you realize you are forcing out some of the people that built this island,” Brennan asked City Council.

Brennan said he met with Tyler twice, once for his property and then for his mother's. One was assessed at $736,000. He argued it was too high and Tyler agreed, he said.

Brennan expected to receive word of a reduction. Instead, his assessment went up some more.

Council President Patrick Rosenello and Mayor Bill Henfey did offer some answers for many of the issues raised, particularly involving the appeal process conducted by the Cape May County Board of Taxation.

Owners can meet a second time with Tyler, as well as the local tax assessor, and if the two sides come to an agreement the city will reimburse property owners for the appeal filing fee which ranges from $25 to $100.

The deadline to file an appeal with the county is April 3 because April 1, the normal deadline date, falls on a Saturday.

County Tax Administrator George R. Brown III said Tuesday that 1,743 people participated in the first round of informal reviews with Tyler. So far, 40 people have filed formal appeals with the county.

Another taxpayer, Marge Schernecke, said she was looking for consistency.

Schernecke, unofficial leader of a new Wildwood Taxpayers Association, said she was shocked the city had no plan that would have made the revaluation and its aftermath easier for all involved.

The revaluations and the process itself have been “full of errors and mistakes,” she said.

As the evening went on, some of the group started to head home, many promising to be on the phone with Tyler or the local tax assessor the next day.

To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian at The Press:TGilfillian@pressofac.com