Rumson Revaluation in Post-Sandy Era

Rumson is readying for its revaluation and, considering it happens to have come at a post-Hurricane Sandy time, values are bound to shift.

"There's no other way to say it," Rumson Mayor John Ekdahl said after the Tuesday night Borough Council meeting after a letter from the state Department of Treasury's Division of Taxation gave the borough approval of a contract with Realty Appraisal Company, via a letter, to move forward with the work. "Though this revaluation was ordered and scheduled (by the county) prior to Sandy, for us it happens to be sort of timely in that home values have changed since Sandy."

The homes that incurred the most damage during Sandy were those in low-lying areas, such as the West Park section of the borough and areas such as Barley Point Island and properties bordering the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers.

Characteristically, when a revaluation is performed, one third of property values go up, a third go down and the remaining third stay the same. The revaluations are mandated by Monmouth County, usually about once every 10 years or so, in order to keep property values current and bring in tax dollars.

This time, in Rumson's case, "I would expect that the values of homes on the waterfront that were affected by Sandy will go down," Ekdahl explained. "The ones that were not affected will probably pick up that burden. That would be the logical conclusion to draw."

So, as with Fair Haven, assessors from Realty will soon be out and about photographing properties as a means to start the job of determining just what that value may be. "These front-view-only photographs are part of the database that will be compiled during the year," Fair Haven's notice said.
After that, they will then move forward with full assessments of each property.

The results will be reflected "next year in the 2014 tax bills," Ekdahl said. But the job will be completed in 2013.

For more information and explanation of exactly what a revaluation is, check out the attached document.