MERRILL CREEK RESERVOIR C/O PROJECT DIRECT VS. HARMONY TOWNSHIP (TAX COURT OF NEW JERSEY) (CONSOLIDATED) (A-1498-16T3/A-1500-16T3/A-1509-16T3)
Plaintiff Merrill Creek Reservoir c/o Project Direct, a consortium of electric utility companies and owner of the Merrill Creek Reservoir in Harmony Township, challenges three 2016 Tax Court judgments affirming the 2011-2013 tax assessments on its property. Harmony cross-appeals alleging error in adjustments the Tax Court made to value. Merrill Creek concedes the improvements should be valued using the cost approach the Tax Court employed but argues the Tax Court erred in accepting the Township's trend analysis, which it characterized as "a rarely used valuation methodology, discredited by New Jersey Tax Court precedent," instead of its own quantity survey method. Finding no error in the court's acceptance of a trend analysis in this case or its adjustments to value based on the evidence adduced at trial, we affirm the opinion of the Tax Court whose opinion is reported at 29 N.J. Tax 487 (Tax 2016).
