It seems everyone is fed up with taxes. The members of the Township Committee and I take your comments about taxes and the quality of life in Lakewood very, very seriously. The decisions we make, as a result, always have you and your wishes in mind. One question people have is, “Did my taxes go up or did they go down?” The Township Committee and I recently introduced a budget with a Zero Tax Levy increase, meaning no increase in the taxes. In fact, our proposed budget reduces spending by a nominal amount. So why did some people see a raise in their taxes when the overall tax levy of the town remained flat? Before I explain that paradox, let’s talk about what we have to work with.
We lost $1.3 million in aid from the state, which means we had to find a way to cut $1.3 million just to make up what we lost in that revenue. In addition, we have to budget additional money to cover legal fees and other costs that resulted from the approximately 4500 tax appeals we had last year. The loss of state aid and the cost of the tax appeals alone could possibly add up to over $2 million. We had to find a way to cut that amount of money from our budget in order to make up for the additional expenses and loss of revenue.
In addition to that, we have contractual obligations we must take into consideration. And what about the cost of utilities? I’m sure you have seen your own personal costs go up — electrical costs, gasoline costs, maintenance costs, etc. These same costs also affect the operation and maintenance of our township buildings and vehicles. Where is that money going to come from?
I want to commend the township manager, the township committee, and all those involved who have taken a sharp knife to the budget, cutting wherever we could. There will be those who say, “Well, you know, you can cut more”; but there reaches a point of diminishing returns. We want to be able to provide the highest quality of municipal services that we can.
Now to answer your questions about your taxes and assessment. What happened? The intent of a tax levy is to make sure everyone is paying his or her fair share. For example, let’s say our town has 100 properties and they were worth $1.00 each. If the town needed to raise $100.00 in order to function, the tax assessment of each property would be $1.00.
After a number of years, some houses/properties would be worth more than $1.00 and some would be worth less than $1.00. So the state mandates a reassessment to make sure everyone is still
paying his or her fair share. With the new assessment, however, it comes to light that instead of being worth a $1.00, the houses are now worth $.50. Everyone is thrilled—taxes will go down, right? Well, not quite….It’s a balancing act. The township still needs to collect the same $100 to provide services; therefore, they raise the tax rate to $2.00 so they can collect the amount needed. Basically everybody is still paying the same amount; but because the assessment changed, the tax rate had to change.
In our case, because the values went down, the tax rate had to go up. But remember, everyone is supposed to be contributing equally. Our task is to figure out a formula that will keep everything the same as the previous year. The tax rate increased approximately 20 percent so if your assessment went down by 20 percent exactly, your taxes will remain exactly the same. If your assessment went down by 30 percent, you would actually see a drop in taxes. If your assessment went down by 10 percent, however, your tax bill will go up because of the reassessment, not because of an increase in taxes.
Please take note, that if your taxes have increased this year due to the reassessment, you will see the increase in the third and fourth quarters only. For example, let’s say someone’s taxes increased $500 because of the reassessment. Normally that increase would be spread over four quarters, making the amount owed $125.00 each quarter. Since we only have two quarters left this year—the third and fourth quarters—the increase would have to be $250.00 each quarter.
Before the reassessment of property, logic dictates that if your assessment went down by less that 20 percent then you have probably been under assessed and paying less than your fair share; others have probably been paying more than their fair share. After the reassessment and a new formula, everything should even out. Those whose taxes drop will be ecstatic, of course; those whose taxes don’t change will be happy; and those whose taxes go up will be angry.
I am happy to say that when we originally went out for reassessment in 2009, when I first came on the Township Committee, the committee authorized the assessor’s office to spend up to $700,000 for the reassessment. I was actually able to lower that to $560,000, and recently we have been able to negotiate a further reduction of about $35,000. So I am proud to say that with the support of the committee I renegotiated with the vendor and we were able to save $175,000 of taxpayer money.
As a result of the reassessment this year, there are less than 500 defendable tax appeals, which should mean a relief for the taxpayers in next year’s budget. The Township Committee and I feel this is a direct result of the attitude of the assessor’s office. Now when someone files an appeal, the assessor is looking at it and trying to settle it before we have to spend money defending the appeal. The assessor’s office is a lot more customer friendly this year.
I am proud that in my first term as mayor I have introduced a budget with a zero tax increase. We are all extremely aware of the economy and the tax issues facing each and every one of us. Please be assured that we will continue to do everything we can to control expenses. We have already made plans to begin working on next year’s budget.
Nice of you to tell everyone how good u are,but when it comes to taxes you have to talk to the pocket.
$1.3m is about 1/2% of tax revenue my taxes went up 20% plus new housing revenue definetly would accomedate that money
My taxes also went up, stop the words and do something aside for BLOGGING!
The mayor just admitted to Harold Herskowitz on the radio that they borrowed 1.2 million dollars to finance the budget. Fiscally responsible indeed.
MY TAXES WENT UP ALOMOST 40% !!!!
WITH IT HARDER TO MAKE A LIVING THESE DAYS, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?
GET FORCLOSED ON MY HOUSE??
THEN WHAT?
I HAVE TO PAY CLOSE TO $4,000 EXTRA THIS YEAR??
WELL, YOU KNOW WHAT??
MAYBE WE SHOULD FURLOW FRIDAY, AND ALLOW PEOPLE TO KEEP THEIR HOMES!!!!!
YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN RID OF THE EMS DEPT, AND YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GET RID OF ALOT OF OTHER PEOPLE!
TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LIVING TOO LONG ON TOO MANY TAX DOLLARS
ITS TIME FOR RESTRUCTURE, NOT TO BAND AID EVERYTHING.
MR MAYER
The logic makes sense, the only problem is that not all neighborhoods were reassessed fairly. The fact is that some developments and homes who had the right connections – where homes are still being sold for 400K plus got reassessed to 330K and some developments where the homes are being sold for the same amount only got reassessed to 360K, which means that the second development is picking up a share of the first developments tax. IS THAT CONSIDERED FAIR! IS THIS NOT CONSIDERED STEALING!
Please Mr Mayer respond to this if you can.
Great to see Mayor Steve on the Scoop again! Was he ever in Amudai Shaish choir? Ah, those were the days my friend.
I still can’t figure out why July 4th was changed to July 1st.
If I’d have known it would save Lakewood Township some money, I’d have written it on the 1st.
The logic is correct but the facts are that the reassesment ewas done extremely unfairly and many people are assesed too low and this increased the tax rate for those oth vbery smart in making sure that there are 2 kinds of properties those who are at market ,so they CAN NOt apperal and those like the seniors at below fair market so they are happy and will vote for ….
That is absolutely the nicest tie ever on the TLS.
You didn’t like my red tie?
Why then when values of homes were rising did the cost per huundred not go down???????????????
Perhaps if the town didn’t have so many tax exempt building, both in town and in the industrial park, there would be enough money coming in so there could be a real decrease in the taxes.
Isn’t it obvious to people based on the state of affairs that we need some new fresh blood in the township committee. There’s a famous saying ‘Smart people learn from their mistakes, dump people keep on repeating them’ We’ve been making this mistake for 30 years ???
Thanks Mr Mayer, my taxes went down
I think that we need to ask ourselves what services we are willing to give up to have lower taxes. Less police and fire protection? Less snow removal? What else?
i went from 8k to 12k.
brand new home assessed for 427k
i am sorry but that is a very high price for living in lakewood.
i didnt move here to go broke.
hashem y’rachem!
my house went up, while all my neighbors which have houses a lot larger then mine, are assest for much lower then my home.my question for the mayer is, it could very well be that my home was assest correctly, but because everyone around me was assest for much lower then me (even though they are a lot larger) so the overall rate will go up to compansate that difference ,so I ask is that fare that so many houses are assest for too low which will affect the overall tax rate? and my home was assest much more then so many homes a lot larger?
To all the people who can’t seem to spell.
The title is spelled MAYOR not MAYER. Maybe you should go back to school and learn proper english/spelling/grammer.
maybe steve is talking about Lakewood Ohio. My taxes went up not 0% but 20%, maybe that is the new math 20% or less = 0%.
maybe your taxes would have gone down if the police and public works were forced to take furloughs or job layoff that were promised around mid term elections. Now that Singer is in, no one lakewood is laid off (good for them) but what about our EMS who took 30%, why are they the marters of the township, maybe the 1.3 million borrowed could be less by reducing the Police salaries.
Do it now, not wait until the contracts are up. Sorry Harold becuase you would have made a difference.
Steven’s Assessment: (Moderated)
Something wrong??
Mr Mayor have you stopped to think why there were 4500 appeals isn’t something wrong?
what nonsense to justify a tax increase in these hard times if my house value went down that means i have less assets and if so shuld be paying less taxes
it was NOT State mandated . It was the easy way out of dealing with the tax appeals . So What essentially happened was that with the exception of the Seniors ,most people got assesed at close to true value . This way they can not appeal . The seniors got assessed under true value ,but we cant appeal based on that . You can only appeal if YOUR assesment is too high ,not if your neighbors is too low . So because of that ,Bob and Steve can tell you ” You have no right to complain ,your house is worth what its assesed for ” ( That is in fact what they tell people ) What they conveniently forget to tell you is that the tax rate went up almost 20 % to make up for the “lowball ” senior assesments and its everybody else whose taxes skyrocketed because of that . Had the Seniors also been assesed fairly most peoples taxes woud not have gone up so much
it was NOT State mandated . It was the easy way out of dealing with the tax appeals . SWhat essentially happened was that with the exception of the Seniors ,most people got assesed at close to true value . This way they can not appeal . The seniors got assessed under true value ,but we cant appeal based on that . You can only appeal if YOUr assesment is too high ,not if your neighbors is too low . So because of that ,Bob and Steve can tell you ” You have no right to complain ,your house is worth what its assesed for ” ( That is in fact what they tell people ) What they conveniently forget to tell you is that the tax rate went up almost 20 % to make up for the “lowball ” senior assesments and its everybody else whose taxes skyrocketed because of that . Had the Seniors also been assesed fairly most peoples taxes woud not have gone up so much
This is all (moderated). Look around ur neighborhoods. See all those new houses going up ?! That shouldve been enough to pay for the re-assessment. Instead, they raised the rate. Now we’re all messed up. My taxes r now $12k/year. What a bargain. We should all sell our homes & move to Cleveland or Pittsburgh. They have Jewish communities & houses can be had for mid $100’s. Or Iowa. Where houses r 10 grand. On the water !!
to #17 427k is $9800 TAX RATE IS 2.294 its not 3rd 1/4 times 4, it is times two plus what u pd for first 2 -1/4 ( i made same mistake)
my taxes went up from $3,000 per quarter to $4,000 per quarter. That is a 33% increase..this is outrages. It makes no sense. Mr Mayor please do something about it……$16,000 for taxes per year??? did you speak in radio programme about Lakewood’s Real Estate taxes?? Are we doing so wonderful here???
My taxes went up from $3,000 per quarter to $4,000 per quarter. That is a 33% increase..This is outrages. It makes no sense. Mr. Mayor please do something about it……$16,000 for taxes per year??? Did you speak in radio programme about Lakewood’s Real Estate taxes?? Are we doing so wonderful here???