finding that “[t]he Director is required by ... N.J.S.A. 54:1-35.1 et seq., to promulgate his table of equalized valuations ... to be used ... in computing the amount each municipality shall receive in the way of school aid funds for the succeeding school year.”
How later courts described this case
- finding that “[t]he Director is required by ... N.J.S.A. 54:1-35.1 et seq., to promulgate his table of equalized valuations ... to be used ... in computing the amount each municipality shall receive in the way of school aid funds for the succeeding school year.”
- "There has been general agreement for over a century that individual property valuations and assessments have been and are marred by the grossest inequities."
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Vanderbilt, C. J.
(concurring). I concur in the result of the majority opinion, which represents an important step toward the solution of an ancient problem of great public interest. I would go farther and point out the statutory duty of the Division of Tax Appeals and the county board of taxation to see that taxes are not merely equalized at a percentage of true value, but are actually equalized at true value. As was pointed out in the dissenting opinion in Baldwin Construction Co. v. Essex County Board of Taxation, 16 N. J. 329 (1954), the entire statutory scheme of property taxation in New Jersey requires throughout assessment at true value. Not only must the local assessor assess all property at its “true value,” N. J. 8. A. 54:4-1, 2, 36, but the express duty of the county board is to supervise local assessors in order to ascertain that all property in the county is assessed at its true value:
“Each county board of taxation shall secure the taxation of all property in the county at its true value, in order that all property, except such as shall be exempt by law, shall bear its full, equal and just share of taxes.” N. J. S. A. 54:3-13.
When we turn to the problem of equalizing aggregate assessments among taxing districts for the purpose of fixing the contribution of each to the county tax burden — the specific question involved here — the county board is charged with the duty to see that such aggregate assessments are at true value:
“Each county board of taxation shall annually ascertain and determine, according to its best knowledge and information, the general ratio or percentage of full value at which the real property of each taxing district is assessed according to the tax lists laid *399 before the board. It shall prepare an equalization table showing the assessed valuation of the real property in each district, the ratio or percentage, if any, by which the assessed valuation should be increased or decreased in order to correspond to true value, and the true value of the real property within the district as determined hy it. A copy of the table shall be mailed to the assessor of each district, and be posted at the courthouse, at least one week before the hearings provided for in section 54:3-18 of this title.” N. J. S. A. 54:3-17.
True value continues to be the criterion of the county board’s responsibility in the annual meeting with the assessors:
“The county board of taxation in each county shall meet annually on January twenty-fifth for the purpose of equalizing the assessments of real property between the several taxing districts of the county. At the meeting a hearing shall be given to the assessors and representatives of the governing bodies of the various taxing districts for the purpose of determining the accuracy of the ratios and true valuations of property as shown in the equalization table, and the board shall confirm or revise the table in accordance with the facts. The hearings may be adjourned from time to time but the equalization shall be completed before March tenth. At the first hearing any taxing district may object to the ratio or valuation fixed for any other district, but no increase in any valuation as shown in the table shall be made by the board without giving a hearing, after three days’ notice, to the governing body of the taxing district affected.” N. J. S. A. 54:3-18.
The county board at each stage of its work is under a statutory duty to make true value the standard which it sets both for the local assessors and itself.
And as stated in the opinion of the court, the duty of the Division of Tax Appeals is to see that the county boards have performed their duty as to the equalization of assessments, i. e., equalization of assessments at true value, N. J. S. A. 54:2-37.
Vanderbilt, C. J., and Heher, J., concurring in result.
For reversal — Chief Justice Vanderbilt, and Justices Heher, Oliphant, Wachenfeld, Burling, Jacobs and Brennan — 7.
For affirmance — Kone.