Reassessment or Reevaluation in your Town
Posted at 3:16 PM, Apr. 4, 2008
Donn Lamon the Broker Owner of Lamon Associates sent a message out with the Lamon Listing booklet a few months back talking about reassessment. Given the furor that has occurred in the last few months over reassessment, it is worth repeating here:
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Do not be afraid of reassessment or reevaluation in your town. The purpose of this process is two fold. One - to bring the values of real property up to 100% of current market value for equalization of all taxing authorities drawing revenues from property taxes. And two - to redistribute the tax burden according to current values, not the values that were placed on your property from the previous assessment (which could be 8 to 15 years ago).
Different trends cause values to change at different rates; i.e. condominiums may appreciate at different increments than single family residences. Commercial or industrial properties may do the same. New developments may see a decrease in their taxes.
The municipal government reassessment cannot increase the total taxes it is now collecting .... only redistribute the tax burden fairly according to the ad valorem (at value) tax system. This system is the most equitable system in the country based on the premise of your ability to pay.
Some states have systems that are not fair or equal to the value. The homestead states freeze increases if you stay in your property, discouraging changing or moving due to losing your tax advantage. The exact properties are assessed differently according to when you bought them. The same home or condo will have taxes at all different levels.
Typically in New Jersey in reevaluation years the tax assessment will double while the tax rate will drop in half. This will equal the identical total taxes raised by the municipality. Unfortunately, New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country.
Sincerely, Donn C. Lamon
Donn Lamon is Broker Owner of Lamon Associates Real Estate and past Mayor of Cinnaminson, NJ. Donn has been Tax Assessor of various townships in Burlington County, New Jersey.
Deal to bring distribution center appears to be done
Posted at 11:49 AM, Feb. 5, 2006
By TODD MCHALE
Burlington County Times
DELANCO The meat of a deal that would bring a major distribution center and eventually the corporate headquarters of Dietz & Watson to Delanco appears to be done.
We are scheduled to close (on a deal with the owners of the Albert E. Price building) on Feb. 14, barring any unforeseen circumstances, said Edward Hovatter, a Pennsau-ken-based attorney who represents Dietz & Watson. If things go right with fitting out the building, the company hopes to be in there by November or December.
While representatives of Dietz & Watson and Albert E. Price Inc. declined to release the purchase price, the agreement calls for Dietz & Watson to purchase the giftware importer's 32-acre property and warehouse on Coopertown Road near the township line.
Philadelphia-based Dietz & Watson, founded by Gottlieb Dietz in 1939, distributes premium deli meats manufactured in Philadelphia, and its artisan cheeses made in New York and other gourmet food products to about three dozen states from coast to coast.
Cindy Yingling, chief financial officer for Dietz & Watson, has said the family-owned company's growth forced them to expand.
Once the deal is complete, Dietz & Watson plans to use the 266,000-square-foot warehouse in Delanco for slicing, packaging, storing and distributing its products. In addition, the company expects to eventually move its development and research facilities and its corporate offices to the Delanco plant.
This building had everything we needed, Hovatter said of the warehouse.
Hovatter said the company would need to install refrigeration systems, construct additional offices, reconfigure the parking lot and improve the landscaping and other areas around the property.
Basically, what we are going to do is take the existing factory and convert it, so the building is conducive for cold storage, Hovatter said.
The site, situated between the company's plants in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York, was one of three locations considered.
Hovatter said officials from Pennsylvania and Maryland courted Dietz & Watson with extensive tax incentives, but the company felt the New Jersey location best fit its needs.
Although, New Jersey wasn't the best deal, (Dietz & Watson) felt this location would be the most logical, Hovatter said.
The members of the Eni family, including Cindy Eni Yingling, who own and operate Dietz & Watson, are longtime Burlington County residents, but Hovatter said that did not play a role in the company's decision to relocate here.
The Township Committee did transfer the Albert E. Price Inc.'s tax abatement deal to Dietz & Watson in December. Last month, the township's Joint Land Use Board approved the deli-meat company's preliminary and final site plan applications and requested variances.
In addition, the Burlington County Economic and Regional Planning department assisted Dietz & Watson with finding loans and incentives available to businesses operating in redevelopment zones in New Jersey.
Hovatter said the company expects to create about 100 to 150 new jobs once the plant is in full operation. The company plans to have three shifts and, eventually, a total of 225 employees working in Delanco.
Township Administrator Steven Corcoran said that while Dietz & Watson's move won't result in a huge boost in tax revenues right away with the tax abatement deal in place, officials are pleased that a company of this stature chose Delanco for its new home.
The impact of a well-known (company) like this moving to a small town like Delanco is enormous, Corcoran said. I'm sure there are people in Baltimore and Pennsylvania who are getting out the map and saying, "Where is Delanco, New Jersey?'
Health of Burlington County Business
Posted at 11:13 AM, Feb. 5, 2006
In an article in the Burlington County times, In need of an office space, By Christopher Bishop, Burlington County Times, the Health of Burlington County Business is discussed.
The sun is shining over South Jersey, said Klein, a senior vice president for Grubb & Ellis, one the nation's largest commercial real-estate firms. Based in Northbrook, Ill., the company has a South Jersey office in Evesham.
Klein cited declining office-space vacancy rates and the potential for attracting tenants from outside the region as other positive signs for South Jersey.
She said vacancies declined in the third quarter of 2005 to 11.7 percent for the Burlington and Camden County market. A rate below 15 percent is considered healthy, experts say.
The vacancy rate in Philadelphia and its suburbs was 13.7 percent during the same period.
Craig Guers, senior vice president for developer Opus East, said one reason for the healthy office scene was lack of overbuilding in South Jersey. He said the vacancy rate for Class A buildings was less than 11 percent.
Real-estate experts generally defined Class A buildings as structures 20 years old or newer that have high-quality construction, state-of-the-art systems and rents above average for the region.
Dan McGovern, a senior associate with CB Richard Ellis, a Los Angeles-based company that is the largest commercial real-estate company in the nation, said the region's office market was in good shape because key industries were thriving.
Health care, defense, the mortgage business all three of those are flourishing around here, McGovern said.
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