HASBROUCK HTS. ISSUES RECORD $215,000 TAX REFUND

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS -- The borough this week mailed to two businesses the largest tax refund in its history, even as the pace of commercial tax appeals seemed to be slowing in Bergen County.

The recipients were the Hasbrouck Heights Sheraton Hotel and the Hartz Hasbrouck Limited Partnership, an affiliate of Hartz Mountain Industries Inc.

The two, among the largest businesses in the borough. received a total of more than $215,000. The Borough Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to refund the Sheraton $91,306 and Hartz $123,943.

The refunds were given after the state Tax Court ruled in April that values assigned to the two properties were too high, said borough Tax Collector Conchita Parker.

The Sheraton was the most dramatically affected: It was valued at more than $21 million in both 1991 and 1992, but the court lowered that amount to $9.6 million for 1991, 1992, and 1993, Parker said.

The Sheraton's tax break would have been much greater than $91,306 if the corporation had not owed the borough taxes on other properties, she said.

"We did not quite expect the results that came out of the Sheraton [decision]," said council member Andrew Link III. The pace of tax appeals, he said, has been hitting the borough hard, dangerously depleting the surplus.

"The residents end up suffering, because they're going to end up picking up the burden," he said. Council member Vincent Dente said the Sheraton was valued at about $25 million six years ago.

"I can't believe that a property could come down [$16 million] in that amount of time," he said. The office buildings and warehouses that Hartz owns in Hasbrouck Heights were reassessed at $8.5 million for 1990 and $8 million for 1991 and 1992 -- down from $9.8 million for both years.

For 1993, the value has been lowered even further, to $7.9 million. Parker said the council has set aside $500,000 for tax refunds for the year. "We have a couple more coming, but they're not as large," she said.

Assistant County Tax Administrator Edward Norwich said the value of commercial and industrial properties in Hasbrouck Heights has declined by about $11.4 million since 1990, when they were assessed at $166 million.

That is typical of what is happening throughout the county, he said. "From 1992 to 1993, I would say there was a slackening off" of commercial tax appeals in the county, Norwich said.

"Some of the commercial spaces are starting to fill in again . . . but the market is still not in an upswing."