ONE MAPLEWOODIAN'S TAX ASSESSMENT DEBACLE

Phil Orphanidis. Photo: NJ.com

As we all await the fallout from the recent property tax reassessment, at least one resident as already had his own run-in with the Township over a tax increase that more than doubled his tax bill.

Phil Orphanidis told NJ.com that when he bought his home at the end of 2015, it had already received renovations and improvements that prompted a "special assessment" unrelated to the town-wide review.

But as the story indicates, the improvements were wrongly assessed and launched a tax fight still going on.

As NJ.com reported last week:

We're used to seeing property taxes rise -- but not like the gut punch received by Phil Orphanidis of Maplewood after a recent reassessment fiasco.

His property taxes more than doubled -- up 111 percent -- in just 18 months.

"They raised my assessment with bogus data adding non-existent features," said Orphanidis, 30. "If they're doing this to me in Maplewood, I'm 100 percent sure they're hammering other homeowners who aren't aware they're being taxed on items which their home does not have."

Orphanidis' property taxes skyrocketed because of bad appraisals that added phantom features (bathroom) and square footage to the home.

He said with this most recent assessment, his taxes will have gone from $7,100 in December 2015 to more than $15,000 in June 2017.

Trying to get the town to fix what he says are errors has been incredibly frustrating, Orphanidis said.

See the entire story HERE.