SENATE, No. 1126

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED MAY 9, 1996

 

 

By Senator ZANE

 

 

An Act concerning the time at which a real property decision of the tax court becomes binding for the assessment year and for the two assessment years succeeding the assessment year, amending R.S.54:51A-8.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. R.S.54:51A-8 is amended to read as follows:

    54:51A-8. Conclusiveness of judgment; changes in value; effect of revaluation program. Where a [final] judgment final has been rendered by the tax court involving real property, the judgment shall be conclusive and binding upon the municipal assessor and the taxing district, parties to the proceeding, for the assessment year and for the two assessment years succeeding the assessment year covered by the final judgment, except as to changes in the value of the property occurring after the assessment date. Where those changes are alleged, the complaint shall specifically set forth the nature of the changes relied upon as the basis for the appeal. However, the conclusive and binding effect of the judgment shall terminate with the tax year immediately preceding the year in which a program for a complete revaluation of all real property within the district has been put into effect.

(cf: R.S.54:51A-8)

 

    2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all assessments for which judgment final has not been rendered prior to enactment.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill clarifies the point at which a real property tax assessment challenge causes the operation of the "freeze act." That act provides that a challenge to an assessment binds the assessor and the taxing district not only for the assessment year but also "freezes" the assessment for the next two assessment years thereafter.

    The original statute provided that this rule applied if a taxpayer and an assessor had exhausted the appeals process. When the statutes were re-codified at the time of the creation of the tax court, the wording of the law was changed slightly and the New Jersey courts have interpreted that change as the Legislature's intention to have the assessor be bound for two years, and a refund of any payments to the taxing district be made, if the tax court finds for the taxpayer whether or not the taxing district still has a right of appeal. Even though the taxing district may eventually win the legal right to a tax payment, by the time it prevails on an appeal the taxing district may have no means to recover its excess refund. This bill returns the law to the original status, that the freeze act provisions apply if the right to appeal has been exhausted or has expired, and makes that rule apply to all cases that may still be appealed or are pending on appeal at the time of its enactment.

 

 

 

Clarifies point in real property tax assessment appeal proceedings at which "freeze act" provisions apply.