He added: "You don't assess property at the peak of the crest."

New Jersey law assesses property used as commercial farmland at a special low rate.

Tax bills for individual homeowners vary widely, depending on the differences in how each town and city assess property.

But because each town and city assesses property differently, there is no way to say for sure what will happen to an individual taxpayer's bill.

They send the building inspectors to assess property.

There is no countywide tax rate, however, because Westchester does not collect taxes or assess property.

State law permits the city to assess commercial property at much higher percentages of market values.

The disparity is caused because each local government uses different assessing practices and assesses property at a different percent of full value.

The locality was allowed to assess property in each category at a uniform fraction of market value.

The law, challenged by the real-estate industry, was intended to increase tax collections by helping the city to assess property more accurately.