Welcome to the Monmouth County Board of Taxation's section of the Monmouth County website. The Tax Board Commissioners invite you to make use of the information provided here.
New Jersey Property Taxpayer Bill of Rights
Assessment Demonstration Program (ADP)
In March 2013, Governor Chris Christie signed into law Chapter 15 P.L 2013 known as the Assessment Demonstration Program to begin in tax year 2014. The Monmouth County Board of Taxation and the Monmouth County Municipal Assessors signed on to be the first in the State to take on this cost-saving project.
Annual Reassessment and the Impact on Property Taxes
· Annual Reassessments: Ensure that everyone is paying their fair share of taxes (meaning not less and not more than they should) by annually revising every assessment up or down to 100% of current market value.
· 5-Year Internal Data Collection Program: Increase the frequency of property data collection/verification so taxpayers aren't unfairly left paying less or more than they should be for a decade or more.
· Remove Fractional Assessments: Improve the transparency of the tax process for taxpayers by doing away with the confusing fractional assessments of the old tax model.
· Assessment Accuracy: Reduce the need for costly appeals that cost the appealing property owner and the municipality time and money by getting the assessment right the first time.
· Assessment Calendar Changes: Reduce the negative budgetary effects to municipalities by moving up the appeals deadline so appeals are completed and known before budgets are finalized.
For a summary of the Assessment Demonstration Program Calendar Changes please click here: MCADP
TAX BOARD PORTAL
The fundamental goal of the Monmouth County Tax Board and its partners is to establish and maintain a fairer system to distribute the annual tax levy. This is accomplished by improving the accuracy of the individual assessments. The TAX BOARD PORTAL is borne from the failings of the existing property tax system.
The Tax Board Portal represents Monmouth County’s online access point to a growing suite of Assessment Function Technology tools for both the public and assessment practitioners. In our progressive property assessment model, the local Assessor annually maintains the assessments of each property within their district to market value. This proactive approach generates a need for new technology. The Tax Board Portal is a creative solution, intended to provide the public with transparent and cost effective access to assessment data. For the first time, the public can both validate and question the accuracy of individual assessments. The Tax Board Portal tools are intended to enhance the local Assessor’s ability to annually analyze the current mass-appraisal costing model against recent property sales and determine areas in need of recalibration and assist in quantifying the appropriate adjustment.
TAX BOARD PORTAL COMPONENT SUMMARY:
1. TIARA (Taxpayer Informal Assessment Review Application)
If the taxpayer believes that the current assessment is inaccurate, TIARA provides the taxpayer with the ability to register within the system and submit a pre-tax year request to have the assessment reviewed by the Assessor. The system will have secure registration, property selection, email event notification and the ability to attach/upload documents/photographs in support of the taxpayers claim. TIARA is meant to be a proactive public service that seeks to address assessment concerns BEFORE they become binding on the municipality.
2. Income & Expense Portal
Technology solution to manage Ch. 91 Income and Expense requests and data. The goal is to provide a cost effective way to gather critical data so that the Assessor can make more accurate individual value estimates. Online submissions should be viewed as an easier process for the public. Online submissions provide the “data” to the assessor as opposed to a static image of the form. The online environment provides the vehicle for the digital records to be merged with the paper-filed records.
At the request of the Assessor, the Tax Board shall mail the Ch 91 requests to all class 4 properties in the town. This “regular mail” is asking the taxpayer to visit the County’s Tax Board Portal, register, and submit Ch 91 data online.
The Assessor (or the Tax Board at the Assessor’s request) will be able to generate the Certified Mailing package from the list of “non-respondent class 4 properties”. The Certified mailing package may include greater personalization of signature and letterhead.
If the municipality receives paper-filed returns for either the regular-mail or the certified-mail the Tax Board staff will, at the Assessor’s request, scan, index and return the paper documents so that the Assessor has a single file of all Ch. 91 data. This data will be available for mapping within the Tax Board Portal. This data will also be able to be exported as an excel file for further analysis.
3. Farmland Application Portal
Technology solution to manage Farmland Assessment applications and data. The goal is to provide a cost effective way to gather critical data so that the Assessor can accurately administer the Farmland Program. Online submissions should be viewed as an easier process for the public. Online submissions provide the “data” to the assessor as opposed to a static image of the form. The online environment provides the vehicle for the digital records to be merged with the paper-filed records. Ultimately, the data gathered by the Assessor can be accessed, approved and shared as necessary with stakeholders in the State, specifically Agriculture, Forestry and Taxation who all in some part re-enter the same data.
At the request of the Assessor, the Tax Board shall mail a letter to all current recipients of Farmland Assessment, class 3B properties. This “regular mail” is asking the taxpayer to visit the County’s Tax Board Portal, register, and submit the Farmland Assessment data online.
The Assessor (or the Tax Board at the Assessor’s request) will be able to generate the follow-up Paper Farmland Mailing package from the list of “non-respondent class 3B properties. The Paper Farmland Mailing package may include greater personalization of signature and letterhead.
If the municipality receives paper-filed returns for either the regular-mail or the certified-mail the Tax Board staff will, at the Assessor’s request, scan, index and return the paper documents so that the Assessor has a single file of all Farmland Assessment Applications. This data will be available for mapping within the Tax Board Portal. This data will also be able to be exported as an excel file for further analysis.
4. ADAM 360 – Assessment Data Analysis Module
ADAM 360 is a suite of tools for analyzing the Assessor’s Preliminary Tax List and Annual Maintenance efforts. Meant in part to be an instrument for the local Assessor to review and revise the Preliminary Tax List before submission to the County, the technology will also serve as the “Guardian of the Gate” for the Tax Board oversight. ADAM 360 is intended to help ensure uniformity for properties within each town and uniformity amongst each town within the County. ADAM 360 will provide year-over-year assessment change tools for the annual reassessment towns as well as the towns that have opted-out of annual reassessments. Reports:
· PRC Statistics,
· Ratio Scatter Diagram,
· Assessment Change Review,
· Appeal Review,
· VCS Review
Online Tax Appeal
As part of the ongoing goal to increase public service and reduce costs, the Monmouth County Tax Board opened the Online Appeal System in 2010. In 2013 Union County began utilizing the system. In 2014 Burlington and Hudson Counties began utilizing the system. Originally only records retention, now the system provides Business Intelligence (BI) which increases the uniformity and accuracy of appeal judgments. We are hopeful that other counties will join the shared service and partner with Monmouth in the expansion of the systems many advanced features. In 2017 84% of the 3,842 appeals filed were filed electronically using the Online System.
Online Technical Support
Tax Board Commissioners:
CLIFFORD J. MOORE III, President
RENEE A. LUTTRELL, VP
STEPHEN DNISTRIAN
MICHAEL V. HIRSCH
JUAN A. MALAVE
AMY A. MALLET
SYLVIA SYLVIA-CIOFFI
Matthew S. Clark, CTA, County Tax Administrator
Christopher Wong, CTA, Asst. Tax Administrator
County Board of Taxation, Hall of Records, 1 East Main St. Freehold, NJ 07728