Record numbers appeal property tax assessments

by: Jason Springer

Tue Nov 10, 2009 at 01:30:00 PM EST

This year, an unprecedented number of New Jerseyans are challenging their assessments in the state with the nation's highest property taxes.

The number of appeals before Essex County's tax board have reached 6,487 this year - nearly twice the 3,631 appeals filed last year. In Ocean County, appeals have nearly tripled to more than 14,000.

"It's 14,129. I know that number by heart. I've been in the industry 35 years. It's a record," said L. Ozzie Vituscka, the county's tax administrator. "They're scared and rightly so."

So far, 15,918 New Jerseyans have reached the county boards or the state tax court - nearing the record of 16,300 set in 1992, said Lynne Allsop, court executive with the state's Tax Court Management Office in Trenton.
With thousands more appeals yet to be heard in the counties and a couple months to go to tally the incoming cases from extensions, that record is certain to fall, she said.