Opinion ID: 1955272
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: somerville industrial park

Text: Plaintiff, Somerville Industrial Park (Somerville Industrial), owns three separate parcels of land in South Plainfield. Following the municipal-wide revaluation effective for tax year 1977, the Borough assessed the properties at $1,811,600, $830,000 and $1,279,200, respectively. Somerville Industrial filed appeals for that year, and for the next three years, during which the valuations remained constant. The 1977, 1978 and 1979 appeals were consolidated by the Tax Court for trial on October 27, 1980. On that date, the parties reached an agreement, valuing the properties at $1,325,000, $625,000 and $875,000, respectively. At the hearing both parties stated to the court that the settlement figures represented the fair assessable values of the various properties. The Borough attorney further represented that the South Plainfield assessor concurred in the valuation. However, no affidavits were submitted, and the parties reserved the question whether the settlement of the 1979 assessment froze that assessment for 1980. Somerville Industrial then moved for application of the Freeze Act to the complete assessments of two of the three properties. With respect to the third tract, in December, 1978 Somerville Industrial had sold a portion of the land and dedicated another portion to the Borough for roads. The sale occurred after October 1, 1978, the date for determining assessments for 1979, see N.J.S.A. 54:4-23, so the assessment was not changed for that year. For 1980, however, the Borough reduced the land assessment by $257,600 to $177,400; the assessment for improvements remained unchanged. Concerning this tract, Somerville Industrial requested the application of the Freeze Act to the 1979 assessment for improvements only. After a hearing, the Tax Court entered judgment freezing the 1979 assessment for two years on both land and improvements for the first two tracts and for improvements only on the third tract. On appeal by the Borough, the Appellate Division reversed, holding that the municipality had entered into the settlements on the assumption that the Freeze Act applied only to the 1977 assessment and that absent a meeting of the minds the Act did not freeze the assessment. Consistent with its view that the parties had not reached an agreement, the court gave the taxpayer the option of setting aside the entire settlement. We granted certification, 91 N.J. 185 (1982), and now reverse and reinstate the judgment of the Tax Court. As we declared in Kentile Floors, supra at 489, a consent judgment is a final judgment under the Freeze Act. Furthermore, the Borough attorney acknowledged both the accuracy of the assessment and the approval of the municipal assessor. Although the settlement was not expressed on a standard Tax Court form, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in accepting the consent. We reject the Borough's contention that it should not automatically be bound by the settlement because it never intended to bind itself to a five-year freeze of the assessment. When a case is settled, the Freeze Act may be invoked at the exclusive option of the taxpayer, not the municipality. See Hasbrouck Heights v. Division of Tax Appeals, 41 N.J. 492, 499-500 (1964); Union Terminal Cold Storage Co., 17 N.J. at 167; Bloomfield v. Parkway Indus. Center, 3 N.J. Tax 220, 231 (1981). By agreeing separately to the assessments for the three tax years, the Borough bound itself for an additional two years, regardless of its subjective intention. Any other result would undermine the express purpose of the statute  the protection of the taxpayer from the annoyance and expense of repeated tax appeals. We further note that this ruling does not excessively restrict the options available to the municipality. Taxpayers may waive their rights under the Freeze Act by agreeing that a stipulated valuation for a particular tax year will not preclude reassessment by the municipality in the following year. Moreover, when more than one year's assessment is in dispute, a municipality may settle only the first year. In this case, for example, the Borough could have avoided the impact of the Freeze Act for 1980 and 1981 by settling only the 1977 assessment, allowing the Freeze Act to apply for the next two years, and issuing a new valuation for 1980. As noted, the Freeze Act does not apply when the municipality can prove a change in value or when a district-wide revaluation has occurred. Otherwise, a taxpayer has the right to the repose granted by the statute. With respect to the third tract, the Tax Court acted properly in granting the request of Somerville Industrial to freeze the 1979 assessment for improvements only. The opposite result would force a taxpayer to choose between retaining the Freeze Act protection or foregoing a sale of part of the premises, a dilemma not contemplated by the statute. We reverse the judgment of the Appellate Division and reinstate the judgment of the Tax Court granting application of the Freeze Act. For affirmance in South Plainfield and reversal and reinstatement in Somerville Industrial Park  Chief Justice WILENTZ and Justices CLIFFORD, SCHREIBER, HANDLER, POLLOCK, O'HERN and GARIBALDI  7. Opposed  None.