New Report is Another Example of Taxpayer Waste in NJ

A new report by the state comptroller's office finds that a north Jersey developer received major property tax reductions without any oversight or documentation.

The investigation found that Arthur Carlson, the tax assessor for the Borough of Edgewater, Bergen County, inappropriately reduced the assessed value of more than 100 condominums owned by a wealthy developer.

In total, the assessor handed the developer more than $472,000 in disproportionate tax savings.

State Comptroller Matt Boxer says this raises broader concerns that municipal tax assessors can do this without detection. "Because of the way tax assessments are handled in New Jersey, this tax assessor was able to single-handedly grant these reductions without any real review or oversight by anyone, and as a result this corporate developer gets handed nearly a half-million dollars in inappropriate tax savings by all the other taxpayers in Bergen County."

Boxer says they have made a series of recommendations to try and tighten up the system in the state. "Looking at things like where there are large reductions in assessements from year to year, and ensuring that someone is overseeing that process and asking the kinds of questions that need to be asked."

The tax assessor, Arthur Carlson, told investigators he wrongly believed that the developer was facing bankruptcy. He does not face criminal charges.

The report also found that the assessed values of the developer-owned units later were raised back to market value after the developer sold the units.