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LETTER: County tax board acts in bad faith
MyCentralJersey
My house in Piscataway was assessed from an outside view — I know this because the job was done in the beginning of August 2013 when I (like many others) was away on vacation. Though the homes in my development are all of the same model, mine was found from outside to have three-and-a-half bathrooms instead of the one-and-a-half it really has. A similar outside viewing found my roof to be "normal," though it has been patched since the hurricane.
At the appeal meeting, the only commissioner not asleep said someone would be sent to verify the truth, since the assessors had initially "not been allowed inside." A township tax official appeared; I let her inside; she counted the bathrooms and saw the roof on her way out. A few days ago, the Board sent me a "judgment." My appeal was denied, and my assessment remained the same because (2B) "Presumption of correctness not overturned."
They certainly do presume their own correctness, but how can a house with one-and-a-half bathrooms be worth the same as one with three-and-a-half bathrooms? Further, my next-door neighbor with the same model and number of bathrooms with an almost equally sized lot was assessed $34,000 less, while the neighbor next to him who has added an attached garage and an extensive deck was assessed only $400 more.
Surely this shows bad faith and an arbitrary abuse of the public trust.
William Vesterman
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