e e good evening we were now called to order the township of scataway council meeting of March 4th 2025 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 1 pl1 1975 specifying the time date location
login or ding information and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building municipal court and the two Municipal Library bulletin boards Municipal live uh website providing a copy to the official newspapers of the
township and by filing a copy in the office of Township Clerk in accordance with a certification by the clerk which will be entered in the m there will be there will be public comment periods for both remote and in-person attendees separately each
member of the public shall only have one opportunity to to speak during each public portion as the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple callers on an individual phone line or logged in user account we ask that if you wish to speak that you log
in or dial in separately so that way we can recognize you as a separate individual should you have any further comments or questions the township council is always available by email and phone and you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating
hours Miss Mitch can I have a roll call please council member [Music] kill council member carmichel here council member libowitz here council member Lombardi here council member
Rashid here council member Erin here and council president espanosa here please join us in saluting flag good evening uh council members are there any comments U from the administration and Council regarding adj adjournment of any matters of on this
agenda no add-ons council president n thank you open to the public comments regarding item number 13 consent agenda items ordinance second reading I'm sorry uh comments regarding items 13 uh number
13 consent agenda items one more time comments regarding item number 15 consent agenda items see none I'm going to open to the uh remote portion if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on
the Zoom app or by phone by pressing star n when it's your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your
comments the council Administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions Miss Mitch do we have anybody in q council president there is nobody raised for this agenda item with their hands
raised thank you closing to the RO uh remote attendees opening to the in-person attendees if you wish to speak if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of
your comments or questions and the council or Administration would then respond if necessary I see no one closing to the public close to the public mayor commission yeah thank you uh council president if you don't mind we this is going to be item number five for a
proclamation honoring June Sal uh if you know public doesn't mind let me read the proclamation then we're going to have June come up uh to receive it whereas founded in 1978 preservation New Jersey promotes the economic vitality and sustainability and Heritage
of New Jersey diverse communities throughout through advocacy and education and whereas each year p&j reviews organizations and individuals who have made memorable and significant impacts on preservation and stewardship of our state history historical sites
and buildings and whereas over 50 years of experience in preservation and Museum management bcat Township is privileged to have Jun salowski as the executive director of the metler Bodine House Museum and whereas we are proud of that her accomplishments were recognized at
the 2024 New Jersey historical preservation award celebration and whereas under her stewardship the metler House museum has acquired the rossall wall which is named an American Treasure by the National Park Service for its significance to the fourth first
fourth of the July celebration now therefore I Brian Waller mayor Township iscat in the county m in the state of New Jersey along with the township governing body recognizes the powerful example of June salowski has set for others to follow in safeguarding
advocacy of historic preservation in New Jersey well congratulations June come on up June is we t hope sure [Applause]
council president I'd like to say a few words please June June June one one second I W to um say a little something on behalf of councilwoman kahill who's not able to be
here tonight okay so she says I have been honored to be a member Trustee of the metler Bodine house and to work with June for various Museum functions June is a treasure she has given of herself to preserve the township Museum SC is
the recipient of her work and we are forever grateful for what she has given to our town and its residents the metler Bodine house is the lasting Legacy of her work and she thanks you and we all we all did say ditto to
that Muse open suay and are call we will come in to tour give you a tour especially but I think you'll be very very surprised we have some incredible incredible artifacts
including the Ross Hall wall and one of our the stats needle work is going to be listed in the American historical society booklet that they're writing as one of the 76 most important artifacts
in the nation it's impressive not get addition for thank you so much for the invite get time thank you we will have a good night right thank you so
much continuing on or ordinance second reading pattent Avenue Road Improvement acquisitions this is open to the public resolution adopting ordinance be it resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance for the acquisition of Rights
of way easements and land and fee simple for the Improvement of patent a phase 2 in the township of Piscataway County of middlex state of New Jersey was introduced on the 11th day of February 2025 and had passed the first reading and was published on the 16th day of February 2025 now therefore be it
resolved that the afor said ordinance having had a second reading on March 4th 2025 the adopted pass and after passage be published together with the notice of the date of passager approval in the official newspaper be it further resolved that this ordinance shall be assigned number
20253 thank you Miss Mitch opening up to the public to the remote attendees portion if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on Zoom app or by phone by pressing star n when it's your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or
press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the council or Administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions Miss Mitch do we have anybody
in que there is nobody with their hand raised for this agenda item council president you miss Mitch closing remote remote portion opening up to the in-person attendees if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and and know
that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or Administration would then respond if necessary I see no one uh in person attendees stepping up closing to the
public portion the public portion you have a motion motion Council woman Lombardi second carich thank you R call please council member
carmichel yes council member leitz yes council member Lombardi yes council member Rasheed yes council member ER yes and council president espanosa yes agenda agenda item number nine ordinance second reading amending and
supplementing chapter S traffic section 15 this is open to the public resolution adopting ordinance Miss Mitch be it resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance to amend and supplement the revised General ordinances of the township of piscado
County of midc state of New Jersey amending chapter 7 traffic section 15 parking prohibited During certain hours on certain streets was in roduced on the 11th day of February 2025 and it passed the first reading and was published on the 16th day of February 2025 now
therefore be it resolved that the a foret ordinance having had a second reading on March 4th 2025 be adopted past and after passage be published together with a notice of the date of Passenger approval in the official newspaper be it further resolved that this ordinance shall be assigned number
20254 thank you Miss Mitch opening up to the public if you wish uh the remote attend these first if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or by by phone by pressing star n when it's your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request
to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the council Administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or
questions Miss Mitch do we have anybody on Q council president there is nobody with their hand raised for this agenda item thank you closing to the remote attendees opening to the inperson attendees if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state
your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or Administration will then respond if necessary I see no one closing to the inperson
attendees I have a motion Mo second councilman thank you roll call please council member carmichel yes council member libowitz yes council member Lombardi yes council member Rasheed yes council member ER yes
council president espanosa yes item number 10 ordinance reading adopting Redevelopment plan for River Crest Cabana Cabana Club River Crest Drive block 7305 Lots 1901 20 and 21 resolution adopting
adopting ordinance Miss Mitch be it resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled an ordinance adopting a Redevelopment plan for Block 7305 lots 190120 and 21 as shown on the tax map of the township of Piscataway commonly
known as River crust Cabana Club River crust Drive B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading and public hearing be held at 7 pm. prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 455 hose Lane Piscataway New Jersey on the 15th
day of April 2025 be it further resolved that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage and a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township Clerk for any interested m M of the
public thank you Miss Mitch may I have a motion I have a question I think they opened up for business last year there was this summer will be the last year that's what okay because I thought that they were going to
continue company or whatever that buying the properties Fring them the money to stay for one more season okay and then that's it after the end of I think August that's it do we have any interest in that property anybody this is going to be age restricted housing would be
wonderful thank you any further questions May motion please motion Le Woods second Lombardi Miss Mitch council member carmichel yes council member libowitz yes council member Lombardi yes council
member rash yes council member ER yes and council president espanosa yes thank you first reading pass item number 11 ordinance first reading sales of certain lands owned by the township block 2101 lot
10.03 five old Bruns Road resolution adopting ordinance Miss Mitch be it resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township of Piscataway County of middlex state of New Jersey author izing the sale of certain lands owned by the
township of piscatway pursuant to njsa 40a 12-13 B1 B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading and public hearing be held at 7 p.m. prevailing time at the piscatway municipal building 455 hose
Lane Piscataway New Jersey on the 15th day of April 2025 be it further resolved that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage and a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township
Clerk for any interested member of the public Council if I may this is the corner property at uh Olden Bruns Road in Stelton that the town had acquired as as per the engineering design plans for the upgrade of single intersection uh
basically this ordinance is turning uh is going to turn the land over to the County engineering department so they can install a storm water management system out there of the Reconstruction of the intersection thank you mayor May motion
please motion councilwoman Lombardi second councilman you Ro council member carmichel yes council member libowitz yes council member Lombardi yes council member Rasheed yes council member ER yes
council president espanosa yes first reading passes item number 12 ordinance first reading to exceed the municipal budget uh Appropriations and establish a cap Bank resolution adopting ordinance M Mitch be it resolved by the township
Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled calendar year 2025 an ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a c bank B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading and public hearing be held at
700 p.m. prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 455 hos Lane pasaway New Jersey on the 15th day of April 2025 be it further resolved that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage and
a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township Clerk for any interested member of the public if I may council president this is uh an ordinance that is a housekeeping item so when a town governing body goes to introduce the the
budget uh you in this at the same time because if you ever need uh to exceed your cap you have a bank uh obviously we're going to be well under what the bank is this year so this is for the bank money so we're not exceeding our cap Bank in the
short thank you mayor may have a motion motion councilwoman Lombardi second Miss migan Ember call please council member carmichel yes council member Le yes council member Lombardi yes council
member Rasheed yes council member Erin yes council president espanosa yes first reading passes item number 13 first reading amending and supplementing chapter 2 Administration section 18 resolution adopting ordinance Miss Mitch be it
resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance to amend and supplement the revised General ordinances of the township of Piscataway county of middlex state of New Jersey amending chapter 2 Administration section 18 division of police be is
hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading and public hearing be held at 7 pm prevailing time at the piscatway municipal building 455 hos Lane pasaway New Jersey on the 15th day of April 2025 be it further resolved that a copy of
this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage and a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the township cler for any interested member of the public thank you Miss Mitch motion
please motion councilman ER second counc make your BR call please council member carmichel yes council member libowitz can I ask a question sorry excuse me is that why
parthy so it was one and now it's two yes exactly and is that the only change yes that's the only change yes council member Lombardi yes council member Rasheed yes council member Erin
yes council president esposa yes first reading pass ordinance first reading amending and supplementing chapter 21 zoning section 8A resolution adop an ordinance Miss Mitch be it resolved by the township Council of Piscataway Township
New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance to amend and supplement the revised General ordinances of the township of pasaway County of middlex state of New Jersey amending chapter 21 zoning section 8A flood damage prevention Bean is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second
reading in public hearing be held at 700 p.m. prevailing time at the padway municipal building 455 hos Lan PC rway New Jersey on the 15th day of April 2025 be it further resolved that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second
reading and final passage and a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township Clerk for any interested member of the public so just wanted to give the council a bit of background on this the ordinance is only setting the fees for the perment application so it's for a
flood plane development plan um permit that is required by the state DP in order for the municip and Raj and also FEMA and FEMA um in order to make sure the development isn't actually being built in constant flood flooding zones
um so there has to be that review that the supervisor engineering does um but in order to offset the costs of that that review um we were setting fees for the permits which were allowed under State Statute thank you any further questions thank you motion please motion
councilwoman Lombardi second councilman ER thank you Miss Michigan have a roll call council member carmichel yes council member Lio whipz yes council member Lombardi yes council member Rasheed yes council member Erin yes and council president
esposa yes first reading passes thank you item number 15 consent agenda resolution where efficiency items have been Consolidated into a consent agenda to be voted on together the materials for these items have been distributed to the
council in advance of the meeting at this time at this time are there any items that the council would like removed from the consent agenda to be discussed or voted on separately n thank you thank you a motion please
motion councilwoman Lombardi secondly bus roll call please council member carmichel yes council member libowitz yes council member Lombardi yes council member Rasheed yes council member Erin
yes council president espanosa agenda passes item number 16 resolution introduction of um Cy 2025 Municipal budget all right so this is the municipal budget of the township of piscatway County of middlex for the
fiscal year 2025 be it resolved that the following statements of revenues and Appropriations shall constitute the municipal budget for the year 2025 be it further resolved that the budget be published in The Courier News in the issue of March 14th
2025 notice is hereby given that the budget and tax resolution was approved by the council members of the township of piscatway County of middlex on March 4th 2025 a hearing on the budget and tax resolution will be held at 455 hose Lane
on April 15 2025 at 7:30 p.m. at which time and place objections to said budget and tax resolution for the year 2025 may be presented by taxpayers or other interested persons summary of current fund section of
approved budget General Appropriations Appropriations within caps 56 m997 182 Appropriations excluded from caps Municipal purposes 26
m165 41 total General Appropriations excluded from caps 26,1 6,541 reserve for uncollected taxes 1,
57717 3.92 total General Appropriations 84 m680 796 92 less anticipated revenues other than current property tax
30,71647 local tax per municipal excuse me Municipal purposes including reserve for uncollected taxes 50 m129 1053 minimum Library tax
$3,850 th000 3,850 6.32 thank you Miss Mitch May a motion please motion leoz have a second please second
councilwoman Lombardi thank you roll call council member carmichel yes council member libowitz yes council member Lombardi yes council member Rasheed yes council member Erin yes council president
espanosa yes thank you announcement and comments from our officials council member Sharon carmichel um yes I would I would just like to um acknowledge that the Piscataway African-American seniors Corp
on Friday held uh our last uh Black History Month uh celebration it was a lunch in that was attended by a lot of people especially senors but I want to thank the mayor I commend the mayor because he he came in took time and spoke to the seniors about what
things are going on happening in uh in with our leadership of the country and for all of our Representatives that are fighting for them and encouraging them to let their voices be heard and respond to emails and um other inquiries that
would help help uh them get the support that they need so I just they were interested and they were asking how to get in touch with their representatives how could they let their voices be heard so I thought that was that was great thank you mayor thank you council members car
Michel council member Laura Le Woods good evening everybody um first of all I just want to um thank Daniel in our budget office he really did a wonderful job going line by line was so patient
clear and articulate on how the budget works and all of its components and I I really appreciate that um I also want to just remind this body that last month we spent some time in discussion about um
immigrants rights and undocumented uh community members and I really would encourage us to continue that discussion uh New Jersey right now just signed two large oh Daniel I just complimented you did you hear me I
wanted to thank you so much for your work and your your specificity and your real attention to detail and patience yesterday thank you so much for that um but I do want to encourage this body to continue to look at protecting the
undocumented Among Us New Jersey just signed two giant Millions uh dollar contracts um on detention centers for undocumented in this state and I think it's a shame um and I just want to encourage us to continue uh to support
those in our community thank you council member lewitz council member Michelle Lombardi yes I'd just like to say uh Happy St Patrick's Day to all the Irish out there um we do have a
um a pancake breakfast over at the kns of Columbus on let's see what day is that that's on that's on uh Sunday March 16th from 8 to 11:30 over at Fran cini cafeteria their pancake breakfasts are
always very well attended and a very good uh breakfast so happy St Patrick's Day to the all of the Irish out there thank you council member uh Lombardi counc member SRA Rashid I wanted to wish all my fellow
neighbors and Friends of Ramadan Mubarak we started fasting on Saturday and that will be an interesting month um the mcmc is hosting their annual Interfaith thear which is going to be next Saturday on March 15th um I heard that they still
have a few open seats so if you're interested please look forward and register for it for sure I also want to wish all our Hindu friends uh Happy Hool which is next week on Friday thank you council member Rashid
member Frank yes I don't forget the spaghetti din this Saturday night for Boy Scouts at St Francis kini thank you council member ER mayor thank you mayor vest administrator Timothy Stacy um this is H Kelly's last
official meeting uh she got a promotion she's moving out of state shame on you congratulations and good luck in your future endeavors Kelly thank you business administrator Timothy
Daisy assistant business business administrator pauler thank you thank you council president I just want to bring to your attention I'm not sure if it was prior to my arrival here however the township was awarded $1 million through the state and local fiscal Recovery Fund for our
911 dispatch Center I was on the phone with the state today going through the process to start to get our reimbursement for that Grant so that's exciting um I also would like to say that uh and the project is about 75%
complete so that's good news the other good news is that through the project we also erected three cellular towers so uh apparently some of these cellular carriers are vying to get on there and that will be a reoccurring revenue for the township so keep noted if any
cellular carriers are listening uh bid will go be going out uh in the near future for that as soon as we settle in and make sure everything is working uh I also want to say our website was updated so there's a tremendous amount of information out there for people to join
in our seniors are very active we we we've got a lot going on at the community center the why so be sure to look in and hook into our Township social media there's so much going on out there and connect with your fellow
residents neighbors friends um and um that's all I have to say thank you thank you toship attorney Raj yeah I just wanted to say um you know wish Kelly good you know good wishes we've worked very closely over
the past three years and thank you for putting up with me I keep saying that to to you guys but it's true um so really appreciate all the work and and thank you and good luck um and also just wanted to add there's a sick holiday on March March 14th also um H mahola so
wanted to to make that recognition also thank you um and I just want to Echo What U assistant business administrator Paula had just mentioned about the pway website it's it's revamp it's new it's got a good feeling it's got that fresh
car smell um so uh I want to uh especially thank uh our Economic Development officer Jen Johnson who was spearheading this project she was been taking um uh comments and feedback from
our senior citizens and uh us as well and she's she's done a great job it started as you know we came together we said okay so what's one of the one of the things that residents are having trouble with and it's one of the things uh that we fixed was the website so so
kudos to her uh kudos to everybody who was involved and I'm excited for this so all the information is there all you need to do is go to the site click on the links click on the nice calendars on the front page that everybody can actually see and now see all the
scheduling of the events of the township so that's very great to have so thank you very much that analogy new car okay I'm going to uh item number eight AG 15
2025 ordinance second reading adopting Redevelopment plan for River Crest Cabana Club river River Crest Drive blocks 7305 Lots 19012 and 21 open to the public resolution adopting adopting
ordinance uh ordinance second reading uh second reading sale of C lands owned by the township lot 2101 lot 10.03 5 old New Brunswick Road open to the public resolution adopting
ordinance great ordinance second reading to exceed the municipal budget Appropriations and establish a c bank open to the public resolution adopting or ordinance ordinance second reading amending and supplementing chapter 2 Administration section 18 open to public
resolution adopting ordinance ordinance second reading amending and supplementing chapter 21 Administration section 8A open to the public resolution adopting ordinance resolution authorizing contract appr appraises for Patton
Avenue Road Improvement Acquisitions is there no resolution approving approving amendment to re Redevelopment agreement 10 Normy drive at this point I'm going to be opening up to the public for remote
attendees if you wish to speak at this time please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or by phone by pressing star N9 when it's your turn to speak you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at this time please state your
name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments the Cil or Administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions Miss do we have anybody in que yes council president I am asking the first
individual to go ahead go ahead M CR hi yes this is Jessica crille 1247 Brookside Road can you hear me yes excellent so I just uh wanted to inquire
about the reassessment notice um it's been a Hot Topic among friends and neighbors and I did some uh data analysis with the county um public tax
records website and it seems like the residential property value of the um land and improvements since last year has gone up by $965 million in Piscataway commercial
property and improvements going up by only $3 million and Industrial going up by2 51 million and then I looked at a couple of uh residences nearby my own um
so the uh 1350 Stelton Road is a residential property and since 2022 which is the um the earliest uh available information on the County website since 2022 this property
has increased its tax assessment value by 46% but four doors down the CVS at 1252 Stelton Road has only increased by 5% of its value and its land value has been
static since 2022 only having very small improvements in its I'm sorry increases in its Improvement value and then a neighbor's house uh since 20122 has gone up by 27% in value um the land
increasing by $80,000 and the improvements kind of going up and down and I was interested what the administration and the council have to say about this because other towns in uh middle sex County don't
assess every year or every three years or even every 10 years and uh it's causing us to be more impacted at a greater level and I would be interested to hear your justification for a
residential property increasing by 46% and then a property down the street commercial in nature having such a small increase of only 5% so I look forward to hearing from you and I appreciate everyone's time this evening thank you
so much yeah so Jessica this is TI so actually we instituted this about seven years ago and the idea is that capture the value of the property as the prices go up and if there's a decline as the
prices go down so what it does is over time it makes sure that everybody getting is getting taxed at the fair and proper amount a situation like Co happened in 2020 and by April of 2020 before we had to put our values in we dropped the
value of commercial properties hotels and the strip malls because we do that they they would be closed and we would be getting tax appeals so the result is that you get we get far less tax appeals we have to allocate this year allocating
less than a million dollars for uncollected taxes where a few years ago we were allocating $4 million in the budget for uncollected taxes they figured I I can't I don't know about the figures you talked about for the commercial or for industrial but I do
know that the average house in piscato over the past three years has gone over 39% so over four years everybody will get reevaluated and that keeps everybody within a proper range there's another town in Middle six County that just sent out their notices they haven't had a
revaluation in almost 30 years and there you really get sticker shock people the difference between getting your what your property is worth versus your taxes there's no correlation because the council has consistently over the past few years dropped the tax rate so the
value goes up they lower the tax rate and that keeps the taxes relatively relatively flat and this year this year we're looking at dropping the tax rate probably depending when we're done with the budget between four uh four and 5% so that's how it works and it keeps
everybody makes sure everybody's tax at the fair amount if you live in a town say like Woodbridge Woodbridge hasn't been reevaluated many many many years there the people that had the old valuations have a very very low valuation on their property so the taxes really aren't
fairly being applied to everybody across the board we're Pas scataway there they are Tim I'd just like to add to that also the state policies and regulations um are are guiding townships and that's why we started implementing it is that
the the township assessment should be within 90% of the fair market value uh this wasn't something that the township did on their own this is something that the state had required other townships to have haven't done it they're not in compliance with the state and at any time the state will or should crack down
on those townships and then as as Tim said you know there's going to be some sticker shock as as they reassess I want to thank you for just calling in I know it is a concern of many people I've seen it on social media I've certainly heard from my own um
friends and neighbors and so thank you very much for calling in and sharing your concern Mitch do we have anybody else on remote attendees there's nobody else with their hand raised council president can I can I make additional comment um I just
perhaps this is something that we can have a little info session now that are exping our website capabilities um something P or just type excellent thank you so
much yeah I believe we have um some walkthrough sessions U that's going to be being worked with pctv is that great thank you half an hour show in one week thank you closing for the remote attendees
opening for the inperson attendees if you wish to speak at this time please come to the podium state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments you may take a seat after completion or your comments or questions and the council or Administration will then
respond if necessary good evening please state your name and address sure I'm Sarah Radford I live at 13 Dunbar AV uh so first I want to just compliment the council because I heard a lot of council member as opposed to councilwoman and
councilman and I've spoken up at this meeting before about I think it's really important for us to use non-gendered terminology when when we can and so I think that's really great especially in light of you know the craziness that's going on in the world around us so I think that's fantastic uh but what I want to talk about tonight is similar to
what Jessica was talking about I want to talk about the property assessment and I just want to focus on the property assessment and not the tax rate and not the actual dollars we pay the property assessment and the reason why I want to make that clear is because I think right
now like we can all agreed like Fair property assessment helps us all it's it's broadly important for paying our fair share I'm happy to pay my fair share I think the challenge that I'm dealing with is that the transparency just isn't there the transparency of
where these numbers are coming from right once a year I get the little postcard and there's a couple of black and white numbers on there it tells me my land value tells me the Improvement value tells me the total tells me what it was last year and there's no cont there's no explanation these come out of
thin air and so I think that's really what I want to focus on is this issue of transparency Behind These numbers and so I mean I believe that there's data there there must be right I'm I'm a scientist I believe in the data I can't you know I work at Rucker's Cancer Institute I
can't go to the to the FDA with an investigational new drug that has no data backing it up and I feel like that's what's happening to us you're coming to us with dat like num numbers that have no information behind them so the question I want to ask is can the
data whatever it's comparable home sales algorithms whatever it may be can the information that backs up these numbers be made public and shared with us as a taxpayers council president they are public everything's public and they're
not made up maybe put it on the flashy new website I know but that's some of the disinformation that some of the folks that you well I can't find it I mean I'm I feel like I'm a smart person everybody you could put a request into the assessing office it's public record there's over
15,000 okay I I'm I'm just saying like I as a smart person who lives in this town don't know how to find that so maybe that would be part of this information campaign you're going on is to tell us how to find that information like it feels like it's a little bit secretive there is definitely a formula okay and
as we just said there's going to be a half hour show okay um clearly telling you how the formula is done oh that'd be fantastic that'd be great thank you you can you can also call tune in yeah you can also call the tax assessor at anytime you want and she'll explain it
to you the card we we have to follow the law that's what's so the I'm I'm not arguing that we shouldn't follow the law I just feel like I get a number and I don't know where it came from so it' be it would be fantastic I would love it I hope that this is through what you're telling me and I will try to find it out and I will come back if one able to find
it out thank you very much thank you and and just one more thing and and believe me I get the same little card and it's got numbers um definitely what everyone says here is is true you know with that flash in your website you can go under your drill down to your tax assessor
which is not difficult to you know it's not drilling down to much anymore but you get the information about the tax assessor I'm you know a lot of people have come to me our residents have come to me as well and asked where are these numbers coming from and what I told them is just call call the tax assessor call
the office because a lot of people just you know don't call they don't you know they exactly I didn't know I should call yeah well exactly like like anything like we we all have to do our homework like I need an education yeah we have to I need to understand I'm into Data I'm
in it I need to know data I can't just get a solution without any data I'm I'm just like you know just the way your thought process goes so I have to call I have to educate myself I have to go and and see where these num are coming from so that way I can go ahead and and say
oh okay but then I'll question that like everybody has questions after what you what you see I wouldn't stop there but at least you have some type of foundation and knowledge to go on and you know ask the rest of the questions that you may have but definitely call the assessor yeah I will I I'm nothing
if not somebody who does my homework I will try I will see if I can get the information and like I said if I can't I'll come back and I'll ask again thank you very much thank you one minute in a nutshell every every so what we do is the town has broken up into four four fire districts so we do
one fire district per year and then we take a year off and then you start all over again so that means the your house is going to get it reassessed every five years every house in the town and we don't do it we hire we hire assessors they're professional assessors or
license assessors and they go out and they look at your house preferably you let them into your house they can see if you did any Renovations anything if you have three fireplaces or whatever and they come up with the value of the house they come back they meet with the
assessing team my assessor and we have two professionals that that help us go through and they look to pick at any anomalies anything that went up way above everybody else or anybody that fell way below anybody else where if
your house went from 300,000 to 800,000 so then they soften the anomalies and take out certain certain anomalies and make sure the numbers are accurate and that's the number that you get on a car and we mail you the card that if you don't believe your number is accurate
you could file a tax appeal now the easiest way to look at your if your number is accurate is looking at similar houses and then with Zillow is very easy if you put your if you put your house in on Zillow it's probably within 90% of
the number that you have so you look at your neighbors you can look both of your neighbors see what they have and uh and that's how we come up with it and that's why you're given an option for a taxal if you want to do that thank you and mayor a lot of a lot of residents may
have the misconcep of of that there some residents are getting assessed every year which is not the case it's every five years I think I understood every five years okay so we'll do fire district one Fire District Two Fire District three fire district four then
you take the year off and start over again thank you you still get a postcard every year so I right so I can see where people would feel you know you're still going to get a postcard every year but you're not going to get aest every year but I could see where that would be part of the misunderstanding every town in
the state of New Jersey does the exact same thing I live so my assessment on my house is less than I paid for it in 1999 when I get my car so for me to look at that card it's
a ridiculous number because I know my house is worth more than that because I paid more than that 20 26 years ago so at least in PCAT if you look at that number your house is worth nearly that number might be a little bit above might be a little below but as as the market
increased 39% years we need to keep recurring and it's in that fact council president for we only had 80 residential appeals last year and all of them were sustained
with the exception of two that had a fire two head fires Apartments pretty much right on the money right there thank you I see no one else at the podium
closing to the in uh inperson attendees motion to adjourn motion second all in favor I I I thank you meeting adjourn evening
everyone e for