Margate recently received criticism from County Executive Levinson for letting outdated real estate assessments persist, with concerns of resulting tax inequities and artificially inflated county tax rates
Levinson: Margate properties are significantly under-assessed—estimated at about 50% of true market value.
In New Jersey, a municipal property tax revaluation (“reval”) is typically ordered when property assessments are no longer in line with true market values. The goal is fairness—ensuring all property owners are paying their equitable share of taxes.
Revaluation ensures property owners pay fair share based on current property values, not outdated assessments.
When should a REVAL occur?
A NJ town should do a reval when property values and assessments are significantly out of sync, when inequities between taxpayers become obvious, or when ordered by NJ State.
Doing REVAL proactively every 5–10 years helps keep taxes fair and reduces lawsuits.
Who Decides on Assessment?
County Commissioner John Risley shared the following:
The Atlantic County Tax Assessor, Theresa Prendergast, holds authority and plays indispensable role in any revaluation effort.
Atlantic County tax assessor Prendergast is the final determination of anything that has to do with assessment in this county. It has to have her seal of approval. Without her support, any initiative “goes nowhere”.
The Tax Assessor, Theresa Prendergast, would have to be in favor of doing this.
Last Reval of Downbeach Towns
| Margate | 2018 |
| Ventnor | 2017 |
| Longport | 2018 |
| Brigantine | 2016 |
| Somers Point | 2019 |
| Atlantic City | 2020 |
Revaluations aim for fairness by redistributing the tax burden, public perception often equates them with tax increases, making them politically challenging.
The proposed solution involves the county itself taking over assessments by hiring and training staff under the county tax assessor’s guidance, aiming for a more consistent, accurate, and cost-effective approach that avoids reliance on external, sometimes unreliable, companies.
Accurate assessments equals fairness in taxes.
Revaluation is not about raising taxes but rather about equitably distributing the existing tax burden.
Listen to Atlantic County Exec Levinson on WPG Radio. 3.22.25.
- Limited Service Providers: Only two companies in New Jersey do revals. This creates bottleneck. Cost of revaluation leads municipalities to kick REVAL can down the road.
- Political Reluctance: Most elected officials don’t want to touch it. “There isn’t one elected official I know in any town that will come and tell you how they want to do a reval in their town. They stall it.”
Proposal for Atlantic County-Led Revaluation Initiative
Atlantic County government to take lead in performing revaluations, rather than relying on external companies or individual municipalities.
Commissioner Amy Gatto: Property assessment is essentially a math problem. Modern tools like aerial maps, drones, and sale information can largely solve this problem without needing to “get inside” homes.
Summary: a county-level revaluation strategy driven by the County Tax Assessor would ensure:
- Fair taxation through accurate assessments
- Overcome limitations of current tax system
- Provide efficient, less politically fraught solution
- TAXES: Approximately 1/3 go up, 1/3 go down 1/3 stay the same.
- Revaluation should not be a one-off event, but a continuing process to maintain fairness over time.
Problem with this logic: brand new $2+ million dollar homes, which are all new homes built in last couple years, bought by richest in the community, are only ones that will see a major reduction in taxes.
Everyone else will see an increase.
In general, Margate’s assessed values are crazy low
Margate was ordered to do a revaluation in 2020
Why not Linwood or eht. Always come to the island when they need an increase for an already bloated govt
Why aren’t the Mainland communities on the “Last Reval Of Downbeach Towns”, listed in the article?
It seems that the Longport to Somers Point causeway has had a lot of new/recent construction. As well as, the other Communities too!
Increase the taxes from Longport, Margate and Ventnor. You’ll see many selling as soon as that happens.
Way too blanket of a statement. Depends on the level of increase and the person. Real estate taxes are also deductible as part of itemized deductions on federal retires, and a portion on state-local taxes.
My question is why Margate taxes have not come down ? With the substantial increase in ratables from all the new construction and larger residential buildings , revenue surely has increased .
that’s a question all margate property owners should be asking but since 80% of property owners cannot vote, no one will be asking.
Revenue has increased. So has cost for everything else in the budget. You can’t just look at one side of an equation.