Like most Red Bank taxpayers, I am still distressed over the biting tax increase I experienced last year. So it was no surprise to me that most Red Bank property owners were terrorized by the new inflated assessed values on their homes and property.

In fact, the longer you've owned your property in Red Bank the more likely you suffered FSD - or Financial Stress Disorder - a form of sticker shock upon receiving your inflated property assessment. This is the regime's reward to you for years of paying the bills, salaries and building the infrastructure in our town.

What many do not know is the cost of these reassessments and revaluations.

The latest "cheap" or "drive by" reassessment will cost us about $200,000 or more and I am told we will borrow the money and pay for it with interest over five years. From 1990 through 2006 I have experienced three revaluations in Red Bank and watched my tax bill climb higher with each one.

After all, a reassessment is a perfect smoke screen from which to launch a tax increase with the politicos telling you that you should be happy your property is worth more now.

But during that same time period, at least one other municipality experienced no revaluations. Furthermore, the real estate values began falling off in 2006 and more in 2007. So why didn't the regime stave off the reassessment? And why were the inflated older sales numbers used by the appraisal company to clobber us with inflated values in a dead and dying real estate market?

My huge tax increase suggests an answer.

Like many taxpayers in Red Bank, my tax bill increased about 20 percent over last year's. However, the reassessment was so skewed that some had no increase at all or even decreased.

One resident taxpayer complained to me that his property was previously assessed at $249,000 and jumped to $658,200 while his neighbor's property previously assessed higher than his at $258,300 only increased to $509,000!

At his tax appeal he was denied relief and was not allowed to use the neighbor's assessment in his presentation. I doubt his neighbor is complaining about his tax bill. Unfortunately for this gentleman, should he take his complaint to the Borough Council his neighbor will be sitting at the council table.

We need tax reform in New Jersey! I do not believe we will ever get real tax reform from professional politicians in New Jersey. Their pensions are more important to them than we are.

The ever-increasing property tax bills and the escalating reassessments will prevent us from ever really owning our homes and properties.

They cause us to fear improving our properties and force many seniors to forego fixing up their homes in order to pay tax bills, which exceed their former mortgage payments. The unchecked power to tax is the power to destroy our quality of life and eventually force us to sell our properties or cause some of us to lose them.

We must get involved and change the way government business is done. Both Councilman John Curley and Councilwoman Mary Grace Cangemi have expressed a commitment to change. Get behind them, they too experienced the tax sting.

Bill Meyer

Red Bank