Full Notification

The City of Linwood has contracted with Vital Communications, Inc. of Trenton, New Jersey to perform a complete revaluation of all real property within the City of Linwood. Vital Communications, Inc. presently provides services to over 300 municipalities in the State of New Jersey.

The revaluation program is the task of measuring, inspecting and collecting data for all properties in the City of Linwood, and then determining the current fair market value of those properties. In New Jersey, properties are to be assessed at 100% of value as of October 1st of the pre-tax year. The estimate of the current fair market value of all property will be as October 1, 2013 and will become the tax assessment for the 2014 tax year.

The revaluation is not being conducted to raise money for the City, the County of Atlantic or the State of New Jersey. The sole purpose is to estimate a fair market value for each property, thereby equitably distributing real estate taxes. During the revaluation program, all properties are physically inspected, and building dimensions are noted, to help insure the same standard of value. This achieves the purpose of equalizing property assessments, and therefore equalizing property taxes.

A notice will be mailed to each property owner in the City prior to a field representative visiting their neighborhood, advising them that they should expect such a visit in several weeks. Property owners are requested to allow access to the property for inspection of the interior. Exterior measurements of all buildings will be taken. All employees of Vital Communications, Inc. will have a photo identification badge and letter of identification signed by City officials. Residents should ask to see these documents prior to allowing the interior inspection of their property. All Vital employees and their automobile descriptions will be registered with the City police.

Upon final review of all data and calculations, the revaluation firm will mail to each property owner a notice advising them of their new assessed value. The notice will also explain how to arrange for a personal, informal review to discuss the proposed assessment with a representative of Vital Communications, Inc.

Once the revaluation program is completed, the new tax rate for the 2014 tax year will not be determined until the new assessments are filed with the County Board of Taxation and operating budgets for schools, county and local government are fixed. Budgets are not completed until several months after filing the tax list. You should not apply the 2013 tax rate to your new assessment.

Vital Communications, Inc. would like to thank the residents of the City of Linwood for their anticipated courtesy and cooperation. Feel free to contact the Tax Office should you have any questions at 609-927-4109 or 609-926-7975.