County to adjust tax bills to correct mistake

WANTAGE — Townships will see an adjustment on their tax bills for the third and fourth quarters of 2015 to correct an overbilling.

During the Sept. 25 Wantage Township Committee meeting, township resident William Gettler brought to the committee's attention an over-billing of $1,165,392 for the 2014 Sussex County Library and Sussex County Health tax levy.

Wantage Township was overbilled $54,723.93 for the county library and $36,076.51 for the county Health Services, totaling $90,800.44.

Melissa Rockwell, Sussex County Tax Administrator, sent a letter to all Sussex County municipalities saying the error will be corrected on the third- and fourth-quarter 2015 tax bills through a credit to each of the municipalities affected. Tax payers will not see a credit on their bill, but an amount which includes the new correct tax amount.

The correction was directed and approved by the State Department of Community Affairs, Division of Local Government Services.

“We [the Sussex County Board of Taxation] were told we couldn't reprint the bills," Rockwell said. "We called the DCA and did what we were told.”

Gettler said he was concerned that because the correction will not occur until the latter part of 2015, the estimated tax amount for first and second quarters of 2015 will be incorrect. In order to calculate the 2015 amount, half of the 2014 figure is used.

Rockwell clarified that per state law, the new tax rate will be corrected with the new billing cycle, which will begin in the third quarter of 2015.

The tax payers' amount due on the third- and fourth-quarter 2015 tax bills also be adjusted to correct 2015 estimated first- and second-quarter tax amounts.

The actual credit will appear on the Abstract of Ratables for each municipality. The Abstract of Ratables documents all Sussex County tax information determined by the Sussex County Board of Taxation and is available to the public at www.sussex.nj.us/Cit-e-Access/webpage.cfm?TID=7&TPID=9727 The amount of the credit should equal exactly the amount of the overcharge, regardless of occurring in 2014 or 2015.