About 60 percent of all the 2008 county tax appeals filed for Rutherford have been won by property owners, according to records sent to the borough by the county. These appeals amount to over $3.4 million in assessed value. Of the 129 appeals on record, 76 resulted in a lowered assessment either because the case was decided for the appellant or because the borough and the appellant reached a settlement approved by the court.

Decisions were mailed out to residents and the borough by the county on July 29. Anyone unhappy with his or her decision has 45 days to file an appeal with the state.

In addition to the 129 appeals already decided, another 36 are awaiting trial or decisions in state court. Once decided, these appeals will play a large part in affecting the borough's total assessment, since in order to go directly to the state, these appeals must all represent properties assessed at over $750,000. Of the 129 appeals that appeared first before the county, only five were for properties valued over $750,000. One multi-million dollar property received a reduction in assessment of over half a million dollars.

"This is not a case about the taxes you're paying. It's about the property," he said. "[Often] people were basically reacting to their tax bills."

Earlier this year, Rutherford tax assessor Joseph Nichols said together all the appeals represent about $210 million in assessed value, or roughly 10 percent of the borough's total value. Nichols estimated that only about $10 million of actual value is at risk.

Between 2007 and 2008, the impact of tax appeals on the borough was so great that its total assessment dropped by $20 million from $2.88 billion to $2.86 billion. Whenever the assessment drops, the result is fewer total ratables supporting the same tax burden. At the public forum on the budget earlier this year, Mayor John Hipp said the actual increase in spending between 2007 and 2008 would have resulted in a much lower tax increase than the anticipated 6.9 percent had it not been for the borough's $20 million drop in assessed value.

The borough plans to pay for all the appeals with an emergency appropriation later this year after the budget is passed, according to chief financial officer Ed Cortright. The borough will need state approval for the appropriation and it will most likely be paid for with a three-year short-term bond to be paid back in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In 2007, the borough spent $150,000 on tax appeals. So far this year the borough has spent about $332,000.

Rutherford's equalization ratio for 2008 as determined by the county is .9601, meaning that, in the county's eyes, the borough is assessed a little below its actual market value. A ratio of 1.0 would mean the borough was assessed at exactly its market value: anything over 1.0 means above market and anything below 1.0 means below market. Whenever a municipality has a reevaluation it is assumed to be at 1.0 for that year. In 2007 Rutherford's ratio was a little over 1.0 at 1.0215.

Differing equalization ratios are what the county uses in order to make sure a town such as Rutherford, in which a reevaluation was done two years ago and the average house is assessed at $449,000, is taxed equitably in comparison to East Rutherford. There, a reevaluation is due soon but the average house is still assessed at $150,000.