Responsibilities

The four main functions of the Office of the Tax Collector are Billing, Reporting, Enforcement, and Collection.

It is the responsibility of the Tax Office to collect all monies owed by property owners to the Township for municipal, county, and school taxes. Thus, our outward focus is on the preparation and collection of quarterly tax bills and annual sewer bills. 

Property taxes are calculated based on the assessed value of the property, multiplied by the tax rate. The assessed value is determined by the Tax Assessor. For more information about the assessment of your property, please refer to the tax assessor page or contact the office of the tax assessor. The tax rate is set and certified by the Essex County Board of Taxation a few weeks after adoption of the municipal budget.

The 1^st and 2^nd quarter of the year are billed in the prior year and based on the previous year’s tax rate. The 3^rd and 4^th quarter are then billed later in the year and reflect any changes in the tax rate or assessment.

Tax and Sewer Collection

Property tax and sewer tax are separate charges—your mortgage company does NOT pay for your sewer taxes. Please refer to the page titled “Property Tax and Sewer Bill Information” for detailed information regarding billing and collection. For any additional questions, please call (973) 762-8120 ext. 2800.

Contactless secure online payment is most efficient and preferred—if you can, please pay online.

Autopay: The township is currently working on a system to set up automatic payments. We will update this page and send notification to residents when this feature becomes available.

Tax Sale

Tax sale takes place in the Fall, usually sometime between mid-October to mid-November. If you do not pay the full amount of taxes due from the previous year, your property will go into the tax sale, during which your past due balance from the previous year will be auctioned off to a 3^rd party. A lien is then placed on your property. Once your property is in tax sale you cannot pay online. All payments to stay out of tax sale must be paid in full, and in person by money order, certified check, or cash.  Cash payments greater than the amount due to stay out of tax sale will result in a credit to any open billing on your account. If you drop off or send a personal check it will be returned to you and you will risk missing the deadline for payment.

Liens

Once a lien is placed on your property there is a process that must be followed to redeem it. Please call us at (973) 762-8120 ext. 3000 with any questions regarding a lien on your property.

PTR/Senior Freeze Forms

The deadline or extensions of deadline for PTR applications is determined by the State—please refer to their website for updated information.
Our office completes fill out and certifies the one sheet labeled either PTR-1A or PTR-2A that says “Homeowners Verification of Property Taxes” and has the section that states “To Be Completed by Tax Collector”. We do not need any of the other sheets. Please fill out the top section of the sheet that is “To Be Completed by Applicant”—don’t forget to answer questions A, B, C, and D.

You can stop by our office anytime Mon-Fri 9a-4:30p to have the sheet filled out and completed on the spot, or you can mail it in for us to complete and we will mail it back to you.