Ridgewood leaders outline 2026 property reassessment, say process is revenue-neutral

Village manager Keith Kausmark opened a public forum in Ridgewood on the county-ordered reassessment and said the process is meant to restore fairness after property values diverged across neighborhoods. “Our ratio has dropped from 84.43% in 2022 to 60% today,” Kausmark said, citing the Bergen County Board of Taxation order for a reassessment to be implemented for the 2027 tax year.

The reassessment will apply to all real property in the village and is intended to reset assessments to fair market value as of a single valuation date, officials said. Rob Brescia, executive vice president and project manager at Appraisal Systems, emphasized the county-mandated work is revenue-neutral: “Reassessments and reevaluations are revenue neutral,” he said, and walked residents through numeric examples showing that as the net taxable value rises the town's tax rate is expected to fall proportionally.

Officials said the valuation date for the reassessment is Oct. 1, 2026. Appraisal Systems will mail preliminary value notices in mid-November, after which property owners can view neighborhood maps, comparable…