Grassroots Groundswell

A second Meet the Candidatesʼ Night will be held at the August NPCCR meeting on August 7th at 7 p.m. at Vermeule Community Center. All candidates must be present to be recognized. No written statements will be accepted.

Good Town Meeting last night - 30 to 35 people in attendance, lots of information flying thick and fast, as usual.

And thank you for the “thank you and good luck” extended to me by the NPCCR members. I think the opportunity to earn the respect of good people is one of the best things about being a free human being; it’s a great honor and privilege to get to do the things I’ve been doing over the past year to earn that respect from North Plainfielders, and I will savor those experiences and friendships - all of them - for the rest of my “firebrand” “Veni-Vidi-Vici” community-organizing life.

Will write up a more detailed account of the meeting later, but the idea that caught my attention most was Frank D’Amore’s plan to submit copies of property maintenance and zoning complaints not only to the bottomless pit of non-enforcement that is Borough Hall, but also to the Borough’s insurance company.

This is pure triangulation genius, enlisting the interest and (hopefully) intervention of another party with a financial investment in the Borough’s wellbeing and competent management, in addition to the taxpaying residents, who are already intensely interested and have been attempting to intervene for decades.

Instead of the seemingly dead-end two-way fight between citizens and borough officials, this maneuver aligns another party with the citizens, cornering the borough officials and putting more pressure on them to enforce.

The insurance company should be interested, because if a fire burns up a family living in an illegal dwelling, and the Borough gets sued for negligent enforcement of health and safety codes, the insurance company will have to pay the settlement along with the taxpayers.

Obviously, it’s always been in the Borough’s best interests to strictly and fairly enforce local laws, and document that strict, fair enforcement, although Allen & Co. have never seen it that way.

But it’s also in the insurance company’s best interest (their bottom line) to ensure that the Borough engages in strict and fair and documented enforcement. The insurance company suits may be able to get the attention of the Mayor and Council better than the residents alone have been able to; providing the insurance company with copies of complaints also eliminates plausible deniability from Borough officials’ list of available defenses.

Readers interested in re-entering the fray - especially readers who have stopped filing property maintenance and overcrowded housing complaints in Borough Hall because nothing ever changes - are strongly encouraged to contact Frank with leads for new complaints, so he can file those complaints and send the copies to the insurance company. Frank’s e-mail is: frankdsr at att.net

Question and Answer Session from the May 8 Meet the Candidates Night.

ROBERT GATTO:

Q: Why are there no black police officers, firefighters, and so few black teachers in the schools? If elected, what will you do to change this?

A: Mr. Gatto responded that he doesn’t know why there aren’t more ethnic minorities on the police, fire and school payrolls and said he’s not interested in denying anyone a position based on race, sex, religion, sexual orientation or any other non-job-related attribute, nor in setting hiring quotas based on those non-job-related attributes.

However, he said, he does think that since the population of North Plainfield is so diverse, if jobs were advertised widely across town and hiring decisions gave preference to North Plainfield residents among all qualified applicants, it seems likely that ethnic diversity among Borough employees would improve because the pool of talented applicants would mirror the diversity of the community.

Q: You work a full-time job. How would you effectively split your time to be an accessible mayor?

A: Mr. Gatto acknowledged that he works full-time, but noted that he’s a union employee, and therefore not required to work more than 40 hours unless he chooses to accept overtime assignments. He currently accepts a lot of overtime, but if elected, would sacrifice the overtime to be more available in town. He tends to go to work early in the day, and can usually be finished and home by 3 or 4 p.m. He also noted that, when his job demands long hours and overnighters, he’s able to focus and handle those pressing issues, and expects to commit in the same way to urgent Borough issues, should they arise.

However, he also noted that he doesn’t believe in “micromanaging” and intends to spread authority and responsibility among competent Borough employees as much as possible. “If you hire the best people and give them flexibility” to do their work, he said, then a Mayor doesn’t need to hover and maintain tight personal control over every individual decision.

Q: What are your ideas for bringing in new businesses to North Plainfield and to improve the look and feel of the town? How will you guide the taking back of downtown? What will you do to stimulate downtown to increase revenue?

A: Mr. Gatto said he’s been doing volunteer work with NPCCR interviewing and giving survey questionnaires to business owners along Somerset Street and Route 22 to find out from the business owners what kind of help they need from the Borough. Maybe something like the Ironbound section of Newark could be put together. Parking improvements are vital; Westfield had the same problems as North Plainfield 20 years ago, and good parking has helped Westfield businesses thrive. So, probably some cost-benefit analysis of different parking plans will be part of economic development downtown.

Mr. D’Amore added that he’s made record requests at Borough Hall for four years to get copies of reports covering what businesses are in town, what they need from the Borough to thrive and grow, which businesses have left or gone out of business, and why. “There is no report,” he said, adding that he’s been participating in the NPCCR survey process too, and what he’s heard from Borough business owners is, “We really think that Borough Hall has abandoned us.”

Ms. Kushnir added that, as co-chair of the Special Events Committee for the last few years, she’s well aware that most of the funding for Borough special events comes from businesses. Members of the Special Events Committee tried to get a list of current businesses from Borough Hall, and found there wasn’t one, so they made one themselves. Finally, a year ago, the Borough posted a list of local businesses, but it’s not clear if and when that list is updated to add new businesses and remove businesses that left town and/or went under. She added that the North Plainfield Business Association has been defunct for several years, but may be getting back in action. She said Latino business owners want to feel like they’re part of the community. She also said that improving the atmosphere downtown and enforcing local codes will attract new businesses, noting that she’s heard Levin Management Corp., the third-largest property management firm in the state, will not do business with Borough Hall because of negative experiences trying to work with officials there.

Several of the candidates urged residents to “buy local,” and I’m not sure which candidate said it, but one pointed out that getting businesses in is good for the Borough, but not “unscrupulous developers” like the Villa Maria developers, noting that Borough officials were “asleep at the switch,” and could have rezoned the property for open space before the condo plan got underway, thus closing a gap for exploiting the Borough, but they didn’t take those proactive steps.

[Editor's Note: I wonder why NPCCR isn't yet listed with a link and contact info at the Borough website under "Clubs and Organizations."]

Q: WIll open positions be posted and advertised to as to seek/attract qualified individuals rather than consider “internal recommendations” as is presently the case?

A: “Absolutely,” Mr. Gatto said. To attract the Best and the brightest, the job postings need to go out to as many people as possible and as many applicants as possible need to be interviewed.

Q: How do you plan to enforce the zoning and property maintenance codes to protect the civil rights of immigrants?

A: Mr. Gatto also said he has no interest in getting North Plainfield law and code enforcement personnel involved in federal immigration enforcement. He referred to Bound Brook’s actions as “Gestapo tactics,” and said his understanding is that Bound Brook code enforcement officials carried out “the wrong execution of the right idea.” When they couldn’t figure out how to enforce the codes professionally and courteously, he said, they “kicked in doors at 2 a.m.”

Mr. Gatto said he wants to see the existing codes properly and respectfully used to correct the problems, penalize the landlords engaged in illegal renting of illegal apartments for their lawbreaking if official notices don’t result in compliance, and he wants to see the tenants displaced by the enforcement actions fully compensated by the landlords (paid six times their monthly rent) to relocate to legal apartments.

Q: How will you keep taxes from rising?

A: The revaluation going on right now means that taxes will probably go up. Borough pushed off the revaluation for years, until compelled by the State to do it; Borough is currently receiving dozens of tax appeals, some dating back to 2005, regarding unfair land values, etc. If those appellants win, then they’ll have to be repaid retroactively. Mr. Gatto’s overall plan is to prevent unnecessary taxes, by making sure there’s no frivolous or wasteful spending. And, he said, if he doesn’t do a good job, he fully expects to be recalled, because he’s well aware that Borough residents are most interested in tax stabilization.

Q: If Mayor Allen has to do the state’s bidding, how can you do what’s best for the public when that’s not the state’s agenda?

A: Mr. Gatto acknowledged that there are tremendous problems at the state level, especially in the area of school funding, which is the main driver for local property taxes. But the main things that people complain about, like property maintenance, zoning and crime prevention, can easily be addressed locally by proactive instead of reactive policies and action. The school funding issue will be slightly eased this year, because North Plainfield got a 20% increase in state funding. But overall, Mr. Gatto said, his plan is to “listen to residents and take care of [their concerns.]“

Q: Do you have the authority to change the tax code, i.e. multifamily pays higher rate so single family homes would be encouraged?

A: Mr. Gatto said: “I have no authority over tax codes. If I did, I’d make this a tax free zone.” The state programs for tax relief include the senior freeze, tax abatements from HUD and at the Borough level for rehabilitation of existing homes. But overall, it will be about making sure that tax dollars are spent as carefully and effectively as possible.

FRANK D’AMORE, SR.

Q: Since you live in the Washington Park Historic District, which is not as populated as the central area, you will not be affected by alternate side parking. How will you help people in the center areas see this is a good idea?

A: Mr. D’Amore noted that he has friends all over town, including the central area, who also advocate for the plan. He said he would emphasize that his concern is that the central area is not clean, and that alternate side parking would enable street cleaning trucks to pick up the litter regularly. He also noted that many downtown driveways have commercial vehicles parked in them, in violation of Borough ordinances, which then forces car drivers to park on the street, and the extra cars associated with overcrowded homes with illegal apartments contribute to the problem too. So enforcing the commercial vehicle and zoning/property maintenance rules would also help free up some off-street parking.

Q: You have been known to treat people harshly. How would you allow the residents to be treated?

A: Mr. D’Amore acknowledged that residents who dealt with him while he was on the police force may have found him “harsh” because he enforced local laws, especially traffic laws, noting “I’m a person who deals with laws the way they’re written. I’m a by the book person.” On the other hand, he said people who know him primarily through his civic activities find him to be more laid back in other settings.

Q: What methods do you propose the city use to enforce the illegal housing codes?

A. Mr. D’Amore said once a problem is reported, the Borough should “do an investigation.” For example, he knows someone who lives at 97 Rockview, a building in which there are 7-8 apartments being rented to individuals. “There’s no investigation done,” he said. Mr. D’Amore also said he’s been told that even if the revaluation appraisers check buildings from attic to basement and find people living in attics and basements, they’re not going to report it.

[Editor's Note: My understanding is that the appraisers will report what they find - i.e., attics and basements finished and furnished for living space. But the appraisers are not a code enforcement team; it's up to Borough officials what they do with the raw information provided by the appraisers.]

Q: What are you going to do about crime?

A: “We have the manpower. It’s just how it’s distributed,” Mr. D’Amore said. He noted that the Police Chief and Captain both currently serve on day-shift, even though most crimes are committed at night between about 5 p.m. and 4 a.m. He’s repeatedly suggested at Council meetings that the Captain should be put on duty at headquarters during the night-shift, which would free up all the sergeants and patrolmen to be on the road and improve public safety.

BARBARA HABEEB:

Q: Have you conducted a cost analysis of maintaining the Villa Maria property as open space/historic site vs. building condos or residences on it?

A: Not yet. We’re planning to do one, and a lot of towns have found that sometimes, open space preservation costs less in the long run, because open space doesn’t require additional police, fire, school or other services.

Mr. Gatto added that the proposed condo development at Villa Maria calls for 225 units, perhaps paying $9,000 per year in taxes. Should the age-restriction be removed due to the soft New Jersey real estate market, and several hundred children move in, the Borough would have to bond for construction of a new school; he estimated construction of a new school would cost about $15 million.

MARIE KUSHNIR

Q: How will you deal with the workers in Borough Hall’s treatment of residents when they call the Borough?

A: Employee performance reviews. Accountability. If Borough residents complain about rude treatment, those complaints will be written up and employees found to be treating residents poorly will be replaced. If employee staffers can’t do their jobs “efficiently and politely,” someone else can.

Q: What about programs for children ages 14-18?

A: Ms. Kushnir pointed out that North Plainfield has a wonderful community center, this building [Vermeule Community Center], with pool tables and shuffleboard and other recreational facilities downstairs, in addition to the large meeting room on the main floor and several small rooms on the second floor. “For whatever reason, the powers that be don’t want to use it” for youth programming, she said.

She also noted that the Borough has a Youth Commission and a Municipal Alliance, two committees concerned with youth programming. Yet all the school programs end at 5 p.m. and don’t include informal, drop-in activities. And we don’t have much outdoor space for open recreation; the only basketball courts in town are at Green Acres Park. Staffing could be done on a volunteer basis; it’s a matter of getting the people and the places organized to put something in place.

[Editor's Note: Municipal Alliance does run summer evening programs for teens on Tuesday and Thursday nights, but nothing during the school year.]

QUESTIONS FOR ALL FOUR CANDIDATES WHO WERE PRESENT

Q: When you get elected, will you insist on a time and motion study throughout the entire Borough - including and especially the Board of Education and Public Works - and thus rid the town of the dead weight that is straining our Borough’s coffers?

A: [Editor's Note: I can't remember which candidates answered this.] It can be expensive to do that, but yes. In the long run, it could save us millions. It has to be done by someone neutral, from outside the Borough, to come in and take a look at what’s being done wrong and what’s being done right, and how all the departments can run more efficiently.

QUESTIONS DIRECTED TOWARD NO-SHOWS:

MIKE GIORDANO, SKIP STABILE, BOB HITCHCOCK, FRANK RIGHETTI:

Q: Why didn’t you show up?

SKIP STABILE:

Q: How do you feel about education in North Plainfield?

Q As Chief of Staff to Senator Nicholas Scutari, do you share the same attitudes towards your constituents as the Senator? He and his office staff are not welcoming. He doesn’t respond to his people. Do you?

Q: Do you attend events when asked to represent your office?

MIKE GIORDANO:

Q: How do you pay for the person you want answering the telephone at Borough Hall? Remember that the state will have less money to give to localities.

Q: Why do you require OPRA filings from residents?

All the Meet the Candidates Info is posted at the page at the top. Click here to get there.

NPCCR Co-Chair Mark Williams, (sporting his “Save Muhlenberg Hospital” t-shirt):

Mayoral Candidate Robert Gatto:

]

Council Candidate Frank D’Amore Sr.:

Council Candidate Marie Kushnir (photo out of focus…sorry!):

Council Candidate Barbara Habeeb:

Here’s the tentative agenda for Thursday’s Town Meeting, 7 p.m. at Vermeule:

Agenda - MAY 8, 2008 TOWN MEETING - MEET THE CANDIDATES NIGHT

1. General Introduction (2 min)

2. Introduction of new attendees (2 min)

3. Agenda Review highlighting Meet the Candidates (2 min)

4. Candidate Introductions, followed by Q&A session (20-30 min)

Please write your questions on the index cards circulating with the basket; we’ll collect and read them all into the microphone so everyone can hear. Please keep questions respectful and geared toward the future (i.e. “What will you do, if elected, about such- and-such an issue?”

If you have questions about candidates’ past actions (i.e. “Why did you do such-and-such about this issue back in 2003?”) write those down and put them in the basket too, and we’ll keep them for a future debate setting later this summer.

5. Reports from committees and discussion (20-30 min total):

• Street Fair June 21 (planning)
• NPCCR Treasurer’s Report (Gary Lewis)
• Economic Development Committee
• Villa Maria Historic and Rezoning issues
• Muhlenberg Hospital Closure; Buy Muhlenberg Pledge opportunity

6. Proposed Agenda Items for June 5 Town Meeting (7 p.m. Vermeule) (2 min)

• Illegal Housing - Bring reports, photos, concerns, ideas for promoting enforcement.
• Community Safety - Crime alerts, Neighborhood Watch, etc.
• Fundraising for the NP Rescue Squad
• NPCCR Human Resource Support needed to monitor and report on various North Plainfield committees, Board of Education, Recreation, Planning Board, etc.

If you are an independent reader-resident and would like to contact the incumbent or challenger democratic Mayor and Council candidates to encourage them to participate in the Meet the Candidates Night, some of their phone numbers are below.

Don’t harass them or their families - they have a reasonable right to privacy, but also a right to expect to hear from concerned residents about issues of local concern, such as the accountability of local elected leaders. (In other words, one phone call per concerned reader is plenty, and leaving a machine message is fine too. If you do have a conversation with one of them, feel free to post the contents of the conversation for readers.)

Mayoral Candidate - Mike Giordano - 668-8228

Council Candidate - Bob Hitchcock - 561-1962

Council Candidate - Skip Stabile - 769-9233

Council Candidate - Frank Righetti - 561-3246

Council Candidate - Alpar Fodor - 732-200-0243

Council Candidate - Luis Morales (can’t find a phone number)

Council Candidate - Nathan Headd (can’t find a phone number)

Finally, if you want to pose questions to the candidates, but can’t make it to the Thursday meeting, please go to the Meet the Candidates page and post a “Comment” with your question and the person you’d like the question addressed to. We’ll collect all those up and bring them to the meeting and ask them on behalf of readers unable to attend.

If none of the Democratic candidates show up, we’ll save their questions and maybe stand outside Vermeule with a bullhorn and a video camera, calling out the questions for the incumbents as they exit their Council chambers some day soon…

GREAT MEETING!

THANKS ESPECIALLY to the 250+ Borough residents who came out, listened to/watched the extremely informative presentations, asked excellent follow-up questions and made the whole thing such a powerful, respectful example of community democracy in action.

Thank you to the dozen or so people who organized and presented, including Mark Williams (NPCCR Co-Chair); Barbara and Eugene Flaherty (Borough Tax Assessors); Ernest Del Guercio, Rick Del Guercio, Glen Sherman and Brett Trout (of Appraisal Systems Inc.); and Antoinette, Barbara, Elaine, Frank, Thalia, Hal, Phyllis, Jerry, Gary, Virginia, Robert, Linda, Michelle, Rob, Mike, Norman, Bart, the custodial staff at West End Elementary School (who set up and took down about 350 chairs) and anyone else who helped put it all together whose names I can’t remember right now but will add tomorrow.

Here’s the main take-home message of the meeting:

The entire purpose of the revaluation is to establish fair market values for all Borough properties as of October 1, 2008. If it turns out that, on average, the assessed value of most people’s homes roughly doubles, then, barring any unforeseen new demands on the budgets of the county, the schools and the municipal government, the local tax rate should be cut by roughly half.

In other words, most homeowners currently pay about 5% of their currently assessed property values in taxes; the last full assessment was in 1989 and it was adjusted in 1993. After this 2008 assessment, most homeowners should wind up paying somewhere around 2.5% of the new, roughly doubled fair market value of their properties.

The meeting began with a presentation by Eugene Flaherty - the Borough’s Assistant Tax Assessor. Mr. Flaherty said the revaluation is not something driven by the Mayor and Council, but was ordered by the The NJ Treasury Department’s Division of Taxation  based on a recommendation by the Somerset County Board of Taxation that has something to do with the equalization ratio of 43.25%. 

I don’t really understand this, as mentioned in a prior post, but it has something to do with a threshold being crossed when the assessed value of property and the fair market value are way out of whack. I gather that right now, the assessed value of all Borough property combined is about 43.25% of what it would bring on the open market if we tried to sell the whole Borough all at once.

I’ll be seeking more information about this in the next week or so, but if Tax Assessors Barbara or Eugene Flaherty (or people who know them) read this and want to write up a straightforward explanation of equalization ratios for readers, that would be great.

Anyway, even though the Borough government has no leeway in whether or when the revaluation process happens, they do have control over which company performs the revaluation, and over the municipal portions of the budgets that spend the tax money collected based on assessed property values.

The total cost of the revaluation will be about $417,000, paid by Borough taxpayers over the next five years. Which, Mr. Flaherty pointed out, amounts to an unfunded mandate from the State - the Borough has to do it, but the State doesn’t have to pay for it.

The comprehensive revaluation can’t be done by local part-time assessors, because it’s too big and comprehensive of a project. Our local assessors work part-time and mostly handle minor revaluations when property owners add an addition to their homes, for example. For a copy of the Tax Assessor’s Job Descriptions click here and scroll to page 126.

There are about 5,500 properties in the Borough, and the value for each will be the land plus the improvements.

Currently, Borough property taxes support three levels of government:

• 13.5% of the collected dollars go to Somerset County, to pay for County government and services, like libraries and open space preservation.
• 60% of the collected dollars go to the local school budget (vote will be April 15).
• 27% of the collected dollars go to municipal services - police, fire, public works (!), snowplowing, fixing things etc.

Then Mr. Flaherty introduced the appraisal team. There were four speakers, and they took turns at the microphone, so I’m going to refer to them in the collective as “the appraisers.”

The appraisers said the New Jersey Constitution requires that revaluations be done fairly, and the main goal of Appraisal Systems Inc. is to do it as fairly as possible and as openly and transparently as possible. Makes sense. They have a reputation to protect.

As an example of the openness and transparency, huge quantities of property value data specific to North Plainfield will be posted at the company’s website  as it’s gathered and verified, and all homeowners with questions and concerns were expressly encouraged to call the company at 973-285-9940 to discuss their questions with the appraisers. As soon as the appraisers have got enough of the raw data processed enough to put information up at their website, I’ll start linking to it from here.

The appraisers said the whole process, which began with notice letter sent out in February, followed shortly thereafter by the first inspections, includes seven steps that feed into, loop back into and reinforce one another, including:

1. Inspecting all the properties inside and out,
2. Analyzing the individual property data along with neighborhood, town and regional real estate sales data and trends;
3. Reviewing the material;
4. Informing the public about the provisional results (sometime in mid-November);
5. Meeting with homeowners one-on-one, upon request, to discuss individual valuations (between November and January);
6. Submitting final fair market value figures for each home to the county and state tax offices; and
7. Defending those fair market values in the tax appeals courts, if homeowners file appeals.

MARCH - NOVEMBER 2008

The appraisers said that all property owners should have received a letter announcing the revaluation; anyone who didn’t get a letter should call Appraisal Systems Inc. at 973-285-9940 to get the situation straightened out.

Inspections started in the Borough last month. At the website you can look at other towns’ revaluation data, and as the current revaluation in North Plainfield continues, updated information will be added there, which will give residents a general idea of where the inspectors are working, neighborhood maps, analysis, etc.

Inspectors should come to the homes between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and they should show the homeowner an identification badge. If they don’t show identification, don’t let them in and call the Appraisal Systems Inc. office to confirm that the person is actually an inspector for the firm.

If no one is at home at the time of the first visit, the inspectors will do an outside inspection only, and will leave a yellow card at the property instructing the owner to call the firm to schedule an interior inspection.

EXTERIOR INSPECTION

They’ll take photos all around the buildings. They’ll measure all the exterior dimensions of the buildings and lot sizes (based on Borough tax maps). They’ll note the type of home (i.e. Cape Code, bi-level, split level, Colonial, ranch, etc.) They’ll note exterior quality of construction (windows, exterior wall materials, roof type). They’ll note the quality of maintenance - above average condition, below average condition, or average.

Condos are measured and inspected the same way, although the appraisers also get copies of master deeds to confirm interior layouts.

The exterior measurements will be used to sketch the buildings to scale in birds eye view.

INTERIOR INSPECTION

Interior inspections take five to 15 minutes. The inspector will count and identify the rooms (kitchen, dining room, living room, den, bedrooms, etc.) They’ll note flooring type for each room (carpet, hardwood, linoleum, tile, etc). They’ll look in the attic and in the basement to see if they’re finished, unfinished or partially finished. They’ll note the heating and cooling systems, whether there are any fireplaces or woodstoves, and the condition of the interiors.

If the homeowner doesn’t call to schedule a second visit, or if no one’s home at the time of the scheduled second visit, the inspector will estimate the interior, and send the homeowner a note about the estimate. If the homeowner feels the information is wrong, he or she calls the firm to schedule an interior inspection.

NEIGHBORHOOD INFLUENCES

The inspection process also includes neighborhood delineations, based on several factors including traffic boundaries (heavily travelled roads); types of homes (i.e., Cape Cod neighborhoods built around the same time), zoning boundaries, historic districts.

And, the inspectors examine the surrounding area to see if it’s commercial or residential, what the topography is like, what the traffic patterns on nearby streets are (heavy or light), and other external influences on property value.

PROPERTY SALES SINCE 2005

The appraisers also gather, compile and map detailed data on every single property sold within the Borough in the last three years. How many properties were on the market at any given time? What types of properties were they? How long did each property stay on the market before finding a buyer? How many sellers got more than their asking price, and by how much? How many sellers reduced their asking price, and by how much, by the time the buyers bought?

ANALYSIS

Then all the raw data is entered into computer programs that can analyze and compare those property sales with the property characteristics of the assessed homes, based on a variety of parameters.

For example: the appraisers will use the computer program to compare split levels with bilevels in a particular neighborhood; split levels on large lots v. split levels on small lots; Colonials in one neighborhood with Colonials in another neighborhood, etc.

Their goal is to get a full and accurate understanding of the overall real estate market trends in North Plainfield, and how different types of homes in different locations have responded to those trends over the last three years.

The appraisers noted that, although the national and New Jersey real estate markets have clearly slowed down in the last few years, different types of homes have reacted differently. In some communities, for example, entry-level homes and luxury homes tended to inflate and then deflate rapidly in value, while mid-range homes tended to be more stable. “You can’t paint the market with a broad brush,” one of the apparisers said. But “if [the values] have to be trended down, they’ll be trended down.”

All of that data, once it’s processed enough to make sense, is the data that will be posted on the  website so that all North Plainfielders can see the factors that go into setting the fair market value for their own particular property as of October 1, 2008.

EARLY NOVEMBER 2008

When all of the inspection, data entry, data analysis, reinspection, reanalysis cycle has played out to the point where the appraisers think they have a pretty fair grasp of the real estate market in North Plainfield, and how each particular property fits into it, they’ll assign a preliminary fair market value to each property, and mail out a letter with that dollar figure by early to mid-November 2008.

At that point, the appraisers emphasized, it’s “still a work in progress.”

And they stated very firmly that taxpayers should not apply the current tax rate to the new fair market value, because the tax rate for 2009 will have to be adjusted significantly once the fair market values are firmly established - in all likelihood, if the fair market values go up, the local tax rate will go down by a similar proportion, because the goal is to enable the Borough to collect about the same amount of tax revenue but spread the tax burden more equitably among the property owners, based on up-to-date calculations of property values.

NOVEMBER 2008 TO JANUARY 2009

Between the letter mailed to property owners in early November, and the end of January, Appraisal Systems Inc. appraisers make themselves available for local one-on-one meetings with any and all property owners who object to the fair market value set by the appraisers.

At those one-on-one meetings , the owners bring all their questions and concerns, and the appraisers bring the entire package of data they used to set the value - the notes on the property, the birds-eye sketches, the photographs of the property, the neighborhood maps, the zoning maps, and, most importantly, the real estate sales maps and comparisons.

If there’s information about the property that is not included in the appraisers’ package, that might affect the value of the property, the appraisers want to know about it, and the owner should bring that information to their attention; the appraisers will go back out to the property and look again. For example, if a bar around the corner is noisy at 1 a.m., the appraisers won’t see and hear that at 3 p.m., but if the homeowner points it out, the appraisers can check on it and factor it into the final property value.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009

By the end of January or thereabouts, when the one-to-one meetings are done and adjustments have been made where new evidence has been verified and factored in, the appraisers submit a package of all the new fair market values to the Somerset County Board of Taxation. Property owners who still object to the new value can file appeals at the county level up until May 1, 2009, but they must still provide evidence to prove the market value of their property is different from the value assessed by the appraisers, and all those appeals will be adjudicated by the end of June 2009. Property owners who don’t file appeals will get an official notice from the Board of Taxation, containing the assessed value of the property for the 2009 tax year, and that new rate will probably take effect during the third and fourth quarter of 2009, if I understand correctly.

QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

[This is most, but not all of the questions asked by the audience. There were a handful that I just didn't catch or that were answered in the main presentation.]

Q - Mountain Avenue has a lot more traffic since the Watchung Square Mall went in. Is traffic taken into account when assigning property values?

A - Yes. Appraisals will look at whether a property is on a primary, secondary or tertiary road, based on traffic flow. They look at whether the street is used by cut-through traffic, whether the streets are near schools. Then, in the comparison stage, they compare sales prices on high traffic streets with similar properties on low traffic streets, and high traffic tends to put downward pressure on property values.

Q - The real estate market in 2005 was very different from the market in 2008. How will that affect assessments? For example, one homeowner mentioned that his house had lost $75,000 in value since 2005.

A - The appraisers are looking to identify market trends, and will take them into account in assigning property values. If the analysis shows that the market in North Plainfield lost 10% value every year since 2005, then the values assigned as of October 1, 2008, will be 30% less than they would have been if the valuation had been done as of Oct. 1 2005.

Q - Can the appraisers accept a bank, mortgage company or real estate agent appraisal?

A - No. Those appraisals are done by a variety of different parties looking for different purposes, and don’t have the same uniform standards and comprehensive approach as a Borough-wide revaluation. Also, a mortgage appraisal will look at safety code compliance, electrical and plumbing systems and other components that the general, Borough-wide appraisal doesn’t look at. If the lights go on when they flip the switch, they assume that everything is functioning at a reasonable level.

Q - Does living in a flood plain affect property values?

A - Yes. The appraisers will look at and factor in flood risk based on flood maps drawn by the Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other flood control agencies. But they are also interested in anecdotal information and data from homeowners who may fall outside “official” flood boundaries, but still have experienced flood problems.

Q - Five to 15 minutes doesn’t seem like enough time to do a thorough inspection. How can it be fair if it’s so cursory, when mortgage appraisers spend a couple of hours?

A - The interior inspection portion takes five to 15 minutes, but there are many other components of inspection - measuring the outside of the house, noting the materials used, etc. Plus the time spent inspecting and documenting the neighborhood conditions. So it’s a very thorough process, but homeowners might not see some of the inspections going on because they’ll happen during work hours. And, if homeowners think some information has been missed, they should bring it to the attention of the inspectors and they’ll come back and look again.

Q - May homeowners make a copy of the paper that the inspector writes his or her notes on at the time of the interior inspection?

A - Yes. If you have a copier on site, you may make a copy. If you want a copy mailed to you later, you may call and request one. But remember, the interior inspection is one part of the overall process, not a final product.

Q - How do you guarantee equal inspection by different inspectors? What’s their training?

A - The appraisers are licensed, and have average of five years’ experience. The inspectors (there are currently 40 on staff) - have measured thousands of properties and are required to have a minimum 150 hours of experience, and the average among Appraisal Systems Inc.’s inspectors is 2,500 hours. Also, each inspector is assigned to a particular neighborhood, to get a better grasp on the overall neighborhood character and be better able to evaluate all the properties in it.

Q - Are people who maintain their houses well penalized in comparison to people who neglect their properties?

A - Some of the things homeowners do to maintain their property are considered “deferred maintenance” related to “pride of ownership” and don’t count toward a higher or lower property value whether done or neglected - things like mowing the lawn, planting and tending shrubs, periodic exterior painting, general electrical and plumbing repairs, maintaining a sound roof and driveway surface, aboveground pools.

“Improvements” that could increase property value are things like adding livable area to the home, modernizing a kitchen or bathroom, adding a deck or in-ground swimming pool outside (although pools also depreciate in value over time), finishing an attic or basement, or replacing old siding with more modern, higher-quality siding.

However, these factors do bear weight at the neighborhood level. Generally attractive, well-maintained neighborhoods add value to each home within them, while generally run-down, neglected neighborhoods detract from the value of each home within them. For any particular affected property, this is called “economic loss of value caused by an outside influence.”

Q - Will the inspection pick up improvements that pre-date the last inspection in 1989?

A - The current inspectors don’t have access to the data collected during the 1989 revaluation process. And if you put in new windows, for example, in 1980, they’ll be noted as 1980 windows: they’re not new anymore.

Q - Many people, especially elderly people, don’t have ready access to computers. Will the data be made available in hard copy for them?

A - Yes, if they call to request copies. The appraisal firm will make every effort to mail out hard copies.

Q - The contract says 85% of properties will be inspected inside. Which are the 15% that won’t.

A - The appraisal firm will inspect 100% of properties from the outside, and will estimate interior conditions for all properties that they can’t get inside to view either on the first try, or on a scheduled later try. The firm has a 95% average for interior inspections. And throughout the process, if a property owner disputes the assessed value, after the November letter, he or she can sit down one-to-one with the appraisers to discuss all the factors that went into the assessment and bring up new evidence that might alter the assessment, but if the new information relates to an interior that the inspectors never saw, the property owner will have to let them come look at the interior. After the January submission of the assessed values to the County, property owners have until May 1 2009 to file tax appeals with the County. Those appeals will require an interior inspection as well, and will all be resolved by the end of June 2009, in time for all the new assessed values to go into effect for tax purposes during the third and fourth quarter of 2009.

Q - Are corner properties assessed higher because they’re on the corner?

A - No.

Q - Is there any state-cap on local property tax increases?

A - No. There’s a cap on how much the municipal budget can increase from year to year, and there are senior citizen tax freeze programs, based on household income. But there’s no general cap on property tax increases in New Jersey.

Q - What if a homeowner gets a bank or mortgage appraisal that differs from the assessed value found by the Appraisal Systems Inc. firm?

A - If homeowners want to contest the revaluation assessment, they should try to get an independent assessment as close to October 1, 2008 at possible, and bring that package to the one-on-one sessions between November and January to discuss it.

Q - When will the data for the whole town be available?

A -When it’s completed. Since different properties and neighborhoods will be done at different times, the data does go up in pieces, not all at once. And unfinished portions are not put up before they’re ready.

Q - If it turns out a property was assessed too high prior to this revaluation, will the Borough refund tax payments made at the higher value since 1993?

A - No.

Q - Does New Jersey law require revaluations to be conducted at specific intervals?

A - No. The need for a revaluation is based on a statistical analysis of the assessed value as compared to an estimated fair market value. Different communities experience different rates of property value changes - so one community might be relatively stable for 20 years, and another might have such rapid change that they need to be revaluated every five years.

Q - Watchung was done in 1993 and again in 1996. Is that normal?

A - Sometimes an adjustment appraisal is done, if there’s a drastic change. Watchung’s property values spiked during that interval, which is why they had to do another appraisal so soon after the 1993 one.

Q - Why are new windows considered an “improvement” and not an energy -conservation measure?

A - The difference in value between old windows and new windows, when taken into account along with all the other factors, is a nominal difference at best. The major influences on value are location, neighborhood, style and size of house.

Q - We have a problem with code enforcement in the Borough. Will the appraisal firm point out code violations to Borough officials? For example, if improvements were done without permits, or if overcrowded housing is found?

A - The appraisers and inspectors are not doing a police function. They won’t know if an improvement was done with a proper permit, or if a given house is zoned for multiple apartments. But they will report to the Borough exactly what they see when they inspect the properties, and the Borough can follow-up on anomalies if the appropriate officials decide to. “We will pay no mind to the legitimacy of what we see,” the appraisers said, adding that if they find a five-family house, they’ll value it at the fair market value of a five-family house in that neighborhood and condition as of October 1, 2008.

Q - How does a historic district affect property values?

A - There are two market forces at work in historic districts - pressure upward because some buyers are willing to pay more to live in a historic house, but also pressure downward because historic districts impose additional rules and costs on homeowners who want to do work on their houses. So, it will depend on how those market forces have trended in particular historic districts in the Borough over the past three years.

I was just over at Maria Pellum’s Plainfield blog - Crescent-Times, about issues in the Crescent Area Historic District and surrounding Plainfield.

She’s got information about Plainfield’s municipal budget and hearings, master plan revisions and hearings, tracking down the sordid backroom details of local candidate selection…

Seems like a lot of people are doing the local-community-citizen-democracy hokey-pokey these days.

Cool.

(Thank you to Norman E. Ortega for the translation. Also, thank you to Mike Castro, who has volunteered to attend the April 7 Town Meeting on Property Revaluations, to assist any Spanish-speaking participants who need translation help.)

NPCCR - Ciudadanos de North Plainfield para los Derechos Comunitarios

Nuestra Misión 

Como inversionistas, intentamos preservar la historia, herencia, belleza ecológica, la fuerza económica y la prosperidad de North Plainfield para las generaciones presentes y futuras desarrollando una relación abierta y de colaboración entre los ciudadanos y el gobierno de North Plainfield, una relación en la cual la toma de decisión sea abierta e inclusiva de todos los ciudadanos como un ejemplo genuino del Ideal Americano de un gobierno por y para la gente.

Nuestra Visión

Nuestra visión es un gobierno municipal accesible y abierto, el cual valore las voces individuales y colectivas para que un gobierno municipal autónomo y democrático sea una realidad.

Miembros de la NPCCR satisfacen NUESTRA VISIÓN haciendo lo siguiente:

• Envolviendo residentes de North Plainfield en la discusión, planeamiento estratégico y acción en asuntos municipales;
• Ejercer presión sobre líderes municipales para que actúen efectivamente y resuelvan los problemas municipales que nos afectan;
• Unificando las voces diversas de los ciudadanos de North Plainfield, autorizando vecindades en asuntos municipales que nos afectan todos;
• Asegurándose de que los líderes municipales exploren y agoten diligentemente todas las fuentes de financiamiento disponibles (Condado, Estado, Federales, Filantrópicos) antes de aumentar contribuciones y taxes a la propiedad;
• Educando residentes y oficiales municipales sobre las implicaciones legales y de seguridad relacionadas con los códigos de mantenimiento de propiedad.;
• Esforzándose para mantener un equilibrio sano entre los espacios de tierra abiertos, los negocios privados y el desarrollo de tierra sostenible.

Incremente su entendimiento Comunitario

Descubra…

• Qué está haciendo el gobierno con SUS dólares que colecta a través del impuesto;
• Cómo puede USTED obtener acceso a expedientes públicos legalmente;
• Cómo puede USTED identificar personas que pueden ayudar a implementar y ejecutar soluciones a problemas comunitarios
• Quién tiene o no tiene voluntad para trabajar con USTED, crear y mantener una visión positiva para toda su comunidad

Sabiduría es poder

¿QUE ES NPCCR?

Para la primavera del 2007, alrededor de una docena de residentes activamente desafiaban los planes que la municipalidad estaba desarrollando por los últimos cinco años para construir condominios en los 17 acres de la propiedad Villa Maria. Como fuimos ignorados por el Consejo Municipal, decidimos reenfocar nuestros esfuerzos en el problema más grande: Los Americanos no tenemos autonomía a pesar de las promesas de la Revolución Americana.

Con la asistencia del Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, los organizadores iniciales se trazaron y circularon una petición para autorizar ciudadanos locales a participar en decisiones municipales.

La impulsión de la petición fue como chispa que animó a más personas a dar el paso adelante para discutir la lista de problemas locales y para plantear estrategias para remediar estos problemas.

El interés ha crecido. Ahora, nosotros hacemos lo siguiente:

• Regularmente obtener y propagar los expedientes públicos y las actividades del gobierno;
• Celebrar reuniones mensuales en el Centro Vermeule para discutir, planear, y buscar soluciones a los problemas locales;
• Continuamente buscar al público para tener diálogo constructivo y responsable con los funcionarios de la municipalidad;
• Publicar un blog de noticias y de opinión donde se puede compartir información y opiniones diversas sobre asuntos municipales;
• Circular peticiones para adoptar leyes locales que protejan y representen los intereses y voluntad de la gente.

Acompáñenos Ahora

• Autorice a su comunidad
• Participe en una red de ayuda
• Tome acción
• Aprenda cómo usted puede realizar resultados y apoyar cambios

English language brochure: NPCCR Flier

The Spanish brochure pdf will be up shortly.

Hallelujah!

Frank D’Amore finally reached Tax Assessor Barbara Flaherty this morning, and she gave her official approval for NPCCR to host Appraisal Systems Inc. for a public information session on the revaluation process, on Monday, April 7 at 7 p.m. at Vermeule Community Center. (Background here.)

Frank is sending out confirmation letters to Mayor, Council and Borough Administrator, and working on a flier.

Spread the word to friends and neighbors!