Homeowners Worry, as Jersey City Property Taxes Skyrocket

Jersey City is reassessing property values for the first time in 30 years, which means many homeowners are seeing their property taxes skyrocket.

Numbers by Appraisal Systems, the company in charge of the revaluation, show the downtown area has been hardest hit, with some tax bills set to triple this year.

"At this point in my life I was considering retirement," said Marie Borrelli, who has lived and worked in the neighborhood for three decades. "Now I don't know what I'm gonna do."

Borrelli paid $16,380 in taxes last year for the two-family home she's lived in for 27 years. Based on the revaluation, her tax bill will shoot up to $41,130.

The frustration doesn't end there. At a community meeting Monday night, councilman James Solomon told residents they'll be responsible for the new amount in full this year, once the city budget is finalized.

"At some point in the summer, residents will get their full 2018 tax bill, which means many people's taxes will kick up in the third and fourth quarter of this year," Solomon said at a meeting organized by the Village Neighborhood Association.

Borrelli said that isn't enough time.

"It should have been, you know, in increments — to give people a chance to decide what they're going to do with their lives," she said.

Solomon is attending neighborhood meetings all month to answer revaluation questions, which he said the city has failed to do.

At the Monday night meeting he said homeowners have 10 days after getting their revaluation letters in the mail to schedule an informal appeal with Appraisal Systems.

Residents should make sure the company has accurately assessed their home — the quality of the kitchen, total square footage and whether it's in a flood-zone. 

"If they haven't accurately assessed the property, there's a chance the company can drop the assessed value," Solomon said.

Appraisal Systems is hearing appeals from homeowners on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. It is expected to hand in the final assessment numbers by mid-March. After that, property owners have 45 days to schedule a formal appeal with the Hudson County tax board.

An appeal might bring down the assessed property value "a little bit," Solomon said. But that's cold comfort for longtime Jersey City resident Christine Fielding.

Fielding's parents bought her family home in the '50s. Her mom regularly told her to hang on to it.

"'Don't ever sell this house,' she used to tell me, 'this is gonna be your pension, this is gonna be your livelihood,'" Fielding said. "She should only know today."