Beef with tax assessor (not in Maplewood)
A farm? How big is the property?
New Jersey's Farmland Reassessment Act says that to be considered for a "farm assessment," the property has to be five acres.
I'd respectfully suggest that accusing folks of racism with "no evidence to support this" is irresponsible, and I'd encourage you to edit your post. I'm skeptical that a township employee can be sued for doing their job.
tomcat said:
At this point the GM (Taiwan Chinese) is fed up, so he wants to sue the TA personally (not the town). Is that even possible?
https://www.justia.com/civil-rights/government-violations-of-civil-rights/qualified-immunity/
The property is 21 acres. 8 acres mixed forest (town is demanding a management plan), some 3-4 acres covered with greenhouses of various sizes, and several open fields, which have not been in active farm production for many years (but are now due to the town's demands).
The nursery where I rent 1 greenhouse has a beef with the local tax assessor, who is nitpicking them to death as to whether the land is in farm use or not. For example, hoop style greenhouses must be installed with a 'gap' of 8-12 feet in order to get adequate light in each greenhouse. The TA will not count that as farm use. She even commented that the aisles inside the greenhouses do not count (though that deduction was not made in the end).
The TA & nursery lawyer negotiated a settlement (+/- $4400 tax bill). TA sent an updated tax bill for $7200+ without any explanation.
At this point the GM (Taiwan Chinese) is fed up, so he wants to sue the TA personally (not the town). Is that even possible?
Considering that the town is in Donald Trump country, I suspect that there could be somewhat racist undertones to this case (no damn foreigner should buy an American business), but I have no evidence to support this.
Any thoughts or suggestions how to resolve this?