Tax Appeals Pressure Local Budgets

I'd like to think that my post last fall clarifying the tax appeal process helped one or two EcoRealty readers along the road to getting back a few tax dollars. In any case, the financial pressures faced by many of us are resulting in a huge increase in such appeals.
The NY Times reports that, as home prices fall, homeowners and associations are appealing to the local authorities to have their property taxes revised downwards.

In suburbs of New York, tax lawyers are so busy that they have hired extra employees to go through the paperwork related to property tax reassessments. "We've been absolutely getting killed," said Robert W. Singer, the mayor of Lakewood Township in New Jersey. Singer's town expects to pay $2 million in tax refunds to homeowners. "We've never had this before. Usually they're undervalued. Now, everyone's overvalued."