Commercial Property Owner Expresses Concern Over Tax Increase – Highlight from July 27th Borough Council Meeting

At the borough council meeting last night, POP Realty Corporation president Paul Gaglioti expressed grave concern about his company’s increased tax burden for property they own along route 22, following North Plainfield’s revaluation. The property is on the west side of Route 22 (where Blockbuster used to be),  next to the former Ray’s sporting goods store. Mr. Gaglioti admitted some negligence in providing paperwork to Appraisal Systems, Inc. in order to assist them in assessing the value of the property.  That may have affected the outcome. However Mr. Gaglioti was surprised that, based on a market determination, his property could have doubled in value to more than $3 million. The 14,000 sqft property now has a tax burden of $10 per sqft, up from $5 per sqft in 2006. The tax burden alone exceeds advertised total sqft pricing of like properties along route 22 in other towns and Mr. Gaglioti fears there will be no interest from ’quality’ tenants, as long as the property cannot be rented at a fair market price.

Former councilwoman Barbara Habeeb commented that the borough should investigate possible tax incentives to attract new business, in addition to retaining current ones.  Great idea, but unless the borough can truly achieve significant tax savings, the tax burden could just shift back to the homeowner.

The borough believes the extensive development planned for the Villa Maria site will bring in much needed tax revenue.  What is still left unanswered is how much that development will cost the borough in terms of additional services and what will actual be left to alleviate the currently over-taxed homeowners and businesses.  Given the large number of  ‘for sale’ signs and growing list of foreclosures, the additional development may only replace what revenue is being lost.  BUT, with the unfortunate consequence of  lowering existing home values by adding unnecessary housing stock.  And once that last piece of open space is developed, where do we go from there?  The standard method of raising revenue through development doesn’t work anymore for North Plainfield. 

There exists another potential consequence for the taxpayer, with the regard to the timing of North Plainfield’s revaluation:

A month or two after the revaluation was completed, the housing market collapsed and a few months after that, the commercial market tanked.  Homeowners are understandably freaked out that the new assessed value of their home may exceed a fair market price and that they’re now being unfairly over taxed.  However, the amount of property tax one pays is not based on individual home value, but on how one’s property value compares with all the others in town.  The purpose of the revaluation was to re-balance the tax burden based on an updated market comparison of the properties in the borough.  If you look at the results of simple poll we did on the blog, similar number of residents saw increases and decreases in property tax. As long as the same ‘market determination’ was used for each assessment, a fair share of the tax burden should be achieved. 

Since the collapse of the market, a significant number of appeals have been made and are going to made.  If all those appeals result in lower assessments, the tax burden is going to shift again.  Part of the town’s properties could be based on the lower market values of the current economic condition, while those that don’t appeal would remain evaluated against last year’s inflated market.  Ouch, so much for equality.  Don’t hardwire those check amounts, just yet!

Hal Hirsch (co-editor)

Mr. Gaglioti’s full comments

7.5 acre Dunellen tract, proposed for housing, now permanently open space – By GENE RACZ, Staff Writer mycentraljersey.com

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090709/NEWS/907090352/1007/NEWS0106

A 7.5-acre property where more than a dozen homes were slated to be built will now remain a mixture of woods and farmland along the Green Brook.

The parcel, owned by Edelman and Penn Realty LLC, was recently acquired by the Borough of Dunellen through the Middlesex County Open Space Trust Fund.

County taxpayers kicked in $2 million while the borough paid $100,000 for the land at the intersection of Mountain View Terrace and Madison Avenue.

“It’s the only piece of property we have in town that is vacant, that is open space, and nobody wanted to see a developer put 13 or 14 homes on banks of the Green Brook,” Dunellen Mayor Robert J. Seader said. “There would have been a whole host of problems that we would have been dealing with had the development gone forward.”

The Middlesex County Open Space Trust Fund is supported by a special tax levy of 3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, approved via referendum by Middlesex County voters in 1995 and 2001.

Since the program began, close to 7,000 acres have been saved from development.

The Dunellen land “is contiguous along the river as it connects to other open space properties that eventually connect to Mountain View Park,” said Ralph Albinir, Middlesex County Parks and Recreation director. “This is first-ever open space property purchased in Dunellen since the inception of the county’s Open Space Program going back to 1995.”

Seader said he approached the county freeholders two years ago when he saw the owner of the property go through the borough’s Planning Board process.

“As far as open space goes, this is the first, and last, piece in Dunellen,” Seader said. “There are a lot of deer on the property, and now they have a place to live. It’s a nice piece of property — it’s the first thing you see coming into Dunellen from Somerset County.

“There are no plans for the property for the immediate future, we’ll just hold it as open space,” Seader added. “We may eventually go back to the freeholder board to possibly turn itinto a park.”

Kinder and Wiser Mayor attends Council Meeting – Mark Williams

A kinder and wiser Mayor Giordano attended (as has become his habit) the July 13th Borough Council Meeting. Kinder, because he listen to the observations of a concerned Borough resident without becoming defensive and hostile when the resident reported the need for improved owner maintenance of a property located in the Borough. Wiser, because he just shook his head in acknowledgment, stated he was aware of the problem and it was being addressed.

Lets take a moment to rewind the tape to the May 26th Borough Council Meeting. This same resident had expressed concerns, during the public comments section, that the expansion of the Green Brook multi use trail (an agenda item under New Business) would place additional maintenance responsibilities on the DPW, who has shown, based on the resident’s observation as a frequently user of this area, that the DPW was not able to maintain the area as it currently exists.

The Mayor responded that the resident was mistaken because he, too, is a frequent visitor to the area and the DPW does a “good” job of maintenance and perhaps the focus should be on the people who thoughtlessly discard trash on the trail. He went on to say that this was his opinion based on his experience and he was entitled to his opinion as the resident was also entitled to theirs.

 Now, my description of the Mayor’s response in the absence of a visualized affect does not do the moment justice. You had to see the Mayor’s face and hear the tone of his speech to fully appreciate how hostile his response was.

Mr. Mayor, as a resident I am not primarily interested in your opinion. I need to trust that you will lead with an open mind that pays serious attention to all the concerns of residents brought to your attention. That my concerns are welcome and will be treated with all the respect that your office should afford. The employees of the DPW are not little boys who need defending by you; let their work speak for itself. They get paid an excellent salary and the quality of their work should reflect that salary. They should be doing excellent work for the excellent salary they are paid. Not “good” work. Poor choice of words, on your part, Mr Mayor.

It is my hope that the Mayor will continue to display this more welcoming leadership style towards residents who take the time to participate and express pride in the community.

Plainfield Area Humane Society – Cristina Talucci

I am an avid reader of your website and before I say anything else, I wanted to express my admiration for your group’s (NPCCR) efforts and really appreciate what you do for the town of North Plainfield. I have learned a lot about what is going on in our town that I would have otherwise been completely ignorant of. Creating awareness and providing the chance for change is so important. I hope that I can be a part of it.

I know one of the resources your website provides is local news coverage, and I wanted to mention some great events coming up this month to support Plainfield Area Humane Society.

First, Plainfield Area Humane Society is celebrating a new beginning with an open house party July 18th at 1:00 pm. There, people can see the results of the renovation efforts, enjoy refreshments, and also celebrate PAHS’s own alumni, Snowball, and his award as Runner Up to the Humane Society of the United State’s Dog of Valor Award!

The next event is a dog wash on July 25th starting at 10 am at the shelter (75 Rock Ave.) $10 for dirty little dogs, $15 for dirty big dogs, and dirty little nail clipping for $8, if the pup cooperates.

The last event for this month is on July 31st and is a “Dine to Donate” opportunity at Applebee’s. From 5-9pm, Applebee’s will donate 10% of a customer’s purchase if they bring in the fundraising flyer. The flyers and more information about these events are on Plainfield Area Humane Society’s website: http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/pahs.html

Q3 Property Tax

By now, North Plainfield residents should have received their third quarter property tax coupons.  The property tax for the third quarter is still an estimate and will most likely change for subsequent quarters.  While it’s nearly impossible to separate out the effect of  ‘09 municipal budget changes and school taxes, we set up a very simple unscientific poll to see how voters property taxes have changed versus the second quarter.  Please be honest in your response. Thank you!

Petition for Open Government – North Plainfield Sunshine Act

North Plainfield Sunshine Act

The North Plainfield Sunshine Act contains guidelines for easier access to more information from the municipal government.  The petition includes a request to provide free internet access to meeting agendas, minutes, ordinance resolutions being considered and other public documentation that contributes to the actions of the municipal goverment. In addition,  the petition requests information  in a more timely manner. That way the public can have a chance to study the content and have a better understanding of the subject matter before public meetings are held, which may result in actions that affect the citizens of North Plainfield. The petition also calls for two (2) public comment sessions, including a question and answer session.

The petition requires about 300 signatures to be collected by the end of July. For those that support open government, and this petition, and would like to help collect signatures, please contact NPCCR co-chair Antoinette Rinehart at rinehart@verizon.net or Frank D’Amore at frankdsr@comcast.net and put ‘Sunshine Act Volunteer’ in the subject line.

More reflections on Villa Maria property development – Frank D’Amore

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009907070323

NPCCR July Monthly Meeting – July 9th, 7pm Vermuele Community Center

Apologies for the late posting of this meeting. (Hal Hirsch, co-editor)

North Plainfield Citizens For Community Rights will be holding their monthly meeting at the Vermuele Community Center, 614 Greenbrook Rd, at 7pm. The topic will be the proposed ‘Supporting Open Government’. NPCCR will be presenting a petition called ‘The North Plainfield Sunshine Act’. The objective of the petition is to provide a set of formal guidelines that make the business of North Plainfield’s muncipal governance more accessible to the public.

Click on the link to review the draft of the petition that will be discussed.