Secaucus, N.J. to fix tax errors, including an unapplied appeal win

Hudson TV Exclusive

A Secaucus, N.J. homeowner won a county tax appeal in 2025 that cut a Fairview Avenue home’s assessed value to $315,000. The town’s tax assessor’s office never applied that judgment, then “inadvertently” added a further increase that pushed the assessment to $378,000, according to a resolution on the Secaucus Mayor and Council’s Tuesday, Oct. 27 agenda.

That is a $63,000 over-assessment and, in the resolution’s words, “a tax bill more than the appropriate amount.” The council will vote to set the assessment back to $315,000 and give the owner a credit, to be calculated by the town’s tax collector.

The resolution doesn’t say how much the owner overpaid or for how many tax years. At the 2026 Secaucus tax rate shown on town tax bills, about $4.56 per $100 of assessed value, $63,000 in extra assessed value works out to roughly $2,870 a year, by Hudson TV’s calculation.

A second assessment error

A second resolution on the same agenda says the assessor “inadvertently placed an inappropriate adjustment” of $22,400 on a Fifth Street property for the 2026 tax year, causing “overbilling.” The council will vote to remove the adjustment and credit the owner. At the same 2026 rate, $22,400 equals about $1,020 in taxes, by Hudson TV’s calculation.

Both resolutions sit on the consent agenda, and consent items are usually approved together in a single vote.

$187,362.50 summer camp bus bill, after the fact

The same consent agenda asks the council to “ratify” a $187,362.50 contract with the Hudson County Schools of Technology for buses and drivers for the Secaucus Summer Camp. The invoice covers June 30 through Aug. 7, 2026, so the council is approving the contract about 11 weeks after the service ended.

The resolution cites the state law that lets towns award contracts to other public agencies without bidding. It says the town’s chief financial officer found the money in the budget.

Earlier this month, Hudson TV reported that Secaucus approved $10,000 raises and a $172,500 no-bid engineering deal on Oct. 13 that weren’t on the posted agenda. The Oct. 27 agenda also includes an 80-megawatt cap and new zoning rules for data centers.

Think your assessment is wrong?

These errors were caught and fixed. Homeowners who think their own assessment is too high can run a free check with GardenState.ai’s property tax appeal tool, see how much a change in value or rate could cost with the Tax Shock calculator, or get a home value estimate. In Hudson County, the deadline to file a county tax appeal is normally April 1, or May 1 in a town that just finished a revaluation.

What’s next

• The Secaucus Mayor and Council meets Tuesday, Oct. 27. Hudson TV will report how the council votes and will update this story with the credit amounts if the town releases them.

Hudson TV asks: Have you ever found a mistake on your property tax bill, and how long did it take your town to fix it? Tell us in the comments.

Got a tip? Email info@hudsontv.com or text 862-417-6695.

Photo of the Secaucus Municipal Government Center in the graphic: Mr. Matté / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Graphic by Hudson TV.