Permits demonstration county to terminate its participation in the "Real Property Assessment Demonstration Program."

A1586

ASSEMBLY, No. 1586

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman SEAN T. KEAN

District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)

SYNOPSIS

���� Permits demonstration county to terminate its
participation in the "Real Property Assessment Demonstration
Program."

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act

permitting a demonstration county to terminate
its participation in the �Real Property Assessment Demonstration Program,�
amending and supplementing P.L.2013, c.15.

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

���� 1.��� Section 4 of P.L.2013,
c.15 (C.54:1-104) is amended to read as follows:

���� 4.��� a.���� There is
established a real property assessment demonstration program, which shall be
open for participation therein to any county in the State, to evaluate the
efficacy and functionality of a municipal system of real property assessment
directed by a county tax board through the county tax administrator pursuant to
a revised assessment, and assessment appeal, calendar.

���� A goal of the demonstration
program is to demonstrate an enhanced system of municipal real property
assessment as a complement to the county-based real property assessment system
pilot program undertaken pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2009, c.118 (C.54:1-86
et seq.), under which the entire real property assessment function formerly
performed by the municipal tax assessor, has been transferred to the county
through the appointment of a county assessor and deputy county assessors.� The
existence of two programs under which the real property assessment function is
performed using two different methods will allow the Legislature to evaluate
the effectiveness of each system of real property assessment, and to determine
whether the current statutory system of real property assessment function
should be revised Statewide.

���� For the first two full tax
years immediately following the enactment of P.L.2013, c.15 (C.54:1-101 et
al.), no more than two counties shall participate in the demonstration program
established in this section, and for the third and fourth full tax years immediately
following the enactment of P.L.2013, c.15 (C.54:1-101 et al.), no more than two
additional counties shall participate in the demonstration program established
in this section.� A county shall not institute a demonstration program pursuant
to the provisions of P.L.2013, c.15 (C.54:1-101 et al.) unless it meets the
following criteria, and provides the required information to the Director of
the Division of Taxation and to the Director of the Division of Local
Government Services:

���� (i)��� the county tax board by
resolution, shall certify to the Director of the Division of Taxation and to
the Director of the Division of Local Government Services that the county tax
board has sufficient funds available to pay all of the costs associated with
the demonstration program, including the conversion to the MOD-IV system and
the associated expansion of the technology infrastructure to the municipalities
in the county.� The county tax board shall forward the resolution to the
Director of the Division of Taxation and to the Director of the Division of
Local Government Services;

���� (ii)�� the county is a
State-certified MOD-IV vendor, or the county has contracted with
a single State-certified MOD-IV vendor to provide MOD-IV technology to all of
the municipalities in the county. The county shall provide a copy of its MOD-IV
certification, or a copy of a valid contract for MOD-IV services;

���� (iii)� the members of the
county's assessors' association, by not less than 2/3rds of its voting
membership, have approved the implementation of the demonstration program.� The
county tax board shall forward the resolution to the Director of the Division
of Taxation and to the Director of the Division of Local Government Services.

���� b.��� There shall be no direct
appropriation of State funds used to effectuate the provisions of the
demonstration program established in subsection a. of this section.� The
technical costs of the demonstration program shall be paid by the county board
of taxation using assessment appeal filing fees collected by the county board
of taxation pursuant to section 18 of P.L.1979, c.499 (C.54:3-21.3a).

���� c.���� (1)���� Not later than
September 1 immediately preceding demonstration program implementation, and
using its own funds therefor, the county tax board of each demonstration county
participating in the demonstration program established in subsection a. of this
section shall provide MOD-IV and CAMA software to each municipality that does
not use the software, at no cost to those municipalities, and shall provide, at
no cost to those municipalities, training in the use of the software to the
assessors of those municipalities, and to their respective staff members.�
Thereafter, each municipality shall pay an annual fee per each taxable line
item in the municipality to the county tax board for the MOD-IV and CAMA
service.

���� (2)�� On October 1 next
following the provision of software under paragraph (1) of this subsection,
each demonstration county shall commence the demonstration program under a plan
developed by the county tax administrator of each demonstration county,
approved by the county board of taxation, and submitted to the Director of the
Division of Taxation and the Director of the Division of Local Government
Services not less than 60 days prior to October 1.� The Director of the
Division of Taxation and the Director of the Division of Local Government
Services shall not propose or require any changes to a demonstration program
plan submitted by a county board of taxation unless a provision of the
demonstration program shall be inconsistent with State law, or the decision of
any court of this State, regarding the assessment of real property unless the
changes have been agreed to by a majority of the members of a demonstration
county's Assessment Demonstration Program Steering Committee created pursuant
to paragraph (3) of this subsection.� The demonstration program of each
demonstration county shall operate under all statutory requirements and
pursuant to all statutory dates and time frames concerning the assessment of
real property in the State, as those statutory dates and time frames have been
amended pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2013, c.15 (C.54:1-101 et al.).

���� (3)�� Each demonstration
county shall establish an "Assessment Demonstration Program Steering
Committee" to monitor and report on the activities within the
demonstration county relative to the demonstration program.� Members of the
steering committee shall be the State Treasurer or his designee, the Director
of the Division of Taxation or his designee, the Director of the Division of
Local Government Services or his designee, a member of the County
Assessor's Association of the demonstration county, and the county tax
administrator of the demonstration county.� Actions taken by the steering
committee shall be approved by a majority of the members of the steering
committee.

���� d.��� The Director of the
Division of Taxation and the Director of the Division of Local Government
Services shall, with the advice and the recommendations of the county tax
administrator provide to the Governor and to the Legislature, not later than
July 1 next following the fourth full tax year after the implementation of the
demonstration program, a report detailing the experience of each demonstration
county participating in the demonstration program, the successes of the
program, any problems experienced under the program, and any recommendations
for statutory or administrative changes to the current system of real property
assessment in the State.

���� e.���� Under the demonstration
program, each municipal assessor in a demonstration county shall utilize the
same property assessment software as is used by the county tax board and
provided to the municipalities by the county tax board pursuant to subsection
c. of this section.� All real property assessment functions required pursuant
to State law, including the revaluation or reassessment of real property, as
well as other assessment-based functions such as the development of a
compliance plan, maintenance of assessments and the calculation of added
assessments shall be performed using the property assessment software.

���� f.���� In accordance with
the provisions of statutory law and with any rule or regulation promulgated
pursuant thereto, the county board of taxation of a demonstration county shall
compel the implementation of a revaluation or reassessment of real property in
any municipality in the demonstration county at such time that the county board
of taxation determines the need therefor. If a municipality fails to comply with
a revaluation or reassessment, as appropriate, ordered by the county board of
taxation in a timely manner, the county board of taxation shall cause the
revaluation or reassessment, as appropriate, to be performed at the
municipality's cost.� The cost of a revaluation or reassessment, as
appropriate, shall be directly billed to such a municipality, in addition to the
apportionment valuation, through the adjustment of the county levy for that
municipality pursuant to R.S.54:4-48 and R.S.54:4-49.� A municipality feeling
aggrieved by a decision of the county board of taxation to cause the
revaluation or reassessment, as appropriate, to be performed at the
municipality's cost may file an appeal of that decision of the county board of
taxation to the Tax Court within 45 days of the approval by the Director of the
Division of Taxation of the county tax board's order requiring the revaluation
or reassessment, as appropriate.

���� g.��� The Director of the
Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs,
and the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury,
shall have the authority to take any action as is deemed necessary and consistent
with the intent of P.L.2013, c.15 (C.54:1-101 et al.) to implement its
provisions, including but not limited to the authority to waive any provisions
of statutory law and regulations that may be inconsistent with the intent or
application of the provisions of P.L.2013, c.15 (C.54:1-101 et al.).

����
h.��� (1) The governing
body of a demonstration county, by resolution, may terminate its participation
in the demonstration program prior to the issuance of the report required to be
issued to the Governor and to the Legislature pursuant to the provisions of
subsection d. of this section.� The termination shall take effect for the tax
year immediately following the adoption of the resolution, and all of the
municipalities in the county shall revert to, and follow, the requirements of
law pertaining to the assessment of real property applicable to a county board
of taxation that does not participate in the demonstration program.

����
(2)�� The Director of the
Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs,
and the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury,
shall have the authority to take any action as is deemed necessary and consistent
with the intent of this subsection to implement a county�s termination of its
participation in the demonstration program, including, but not limited to, the
authority to waive any provisions of statutory law and regulations that may be
inconsistent with the intent or application of this subsection.

(cf: P.L.2013, c.15, s.4)

���� 2.��� (New section)�
Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary, a municipality that
is undergoing a revaluation shall not be included in the demonstration program
for the year in which the revaluation takes effect.

���� 3.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill would permit a
county participating in the �Real Property Assessment Demonstration Program�
created in P.L.2013, c.15 (C.43:1-101 et seq.), by resolution, to terminate its
participation in the demonstration at any time prior to the issuance of the
report required to be issued to the Governor and to the Legislature (not later
than July 1 next following the fourth full tax year after the implementation of
the program). �The termination would take effect for the tax year immediately
following the adoption of the resolution, and all of the municipalities in the
county would revert to, and follow, the requirements of law pertaining to the
assessment of real property that are applicable to a county board of taxation that
does not participate in the demonstration program.

���� The bill also requires that a
municipality that is undergoing a revaluation shall not be included in the
demonstration program for the year in which the revaluation takes effect.