All Maplewood property owners should receive letters with their new valuations from the recent reassessment within the next few weeks.
Originally the letters were to be mailed out by December 1, but the final review process has taken longer than expected, said Ernest Del Guercio and Jason Cohen, representatives of Appraisal Systems Inc. at Tuesday’s Township Committee meeting.
“The process is nearing completion…1,000 letters have been mailed and we are staring the hearing process,” said Del Guercio, who assured the township committee and the public that they were “well within the bounds” of the completion date mandated by the county.
“I want to assure you the process is well under control,” he said.
Cohen said all letters would be mailed by December 23, with the letters going out in three phases, from the west to the east of the township. New valuations and other information will be posted on the ASI website as they become available.
Informal hearings with property owners are being scheduled and will begin next week; they will take place the week between Christmas and New Years if necessary, said Cohen. Homeowners have until May 1, 2017 to file an appeal.
Meanwhile, Cohen said values for Maplewood properties have increased around 27-28%, similar to the increases seen in South Orange.
Mayor Vic DeLuca asked the ASI reps and township tax assessor Ed Galante if the letter mailing process could be expedited for the public “What’s most important is that people have the time and ability to really let this sink in,” said DeLuca. “People have lives.”
The three men agreed they would attempt to move the process along more quickly.
