PRONTI’S ROLLING TAX REASSESSMENTS: GOOD FOR GOVERNMENT OR GOOD FOR HOMEOWNERS?
Only 17% of New Jersey’s Municipalities employ Pronti’s controversial process!
NORTH ARLINGTON – Pronti’s rolling reassessments are not necessarily better for every individual homeowner. And it can be politically unpopular precisely because it makes changes in a homeowner’s tax burden more visible and more frequent!
Pronti’s North Arlington, just one of a handful of municipalities that employs this annual reassessment burden, claims it prevents homeowners from “overpaying” and limits tax appeals.
But as usual, where is the evidence of such a statement?
Where is the proof MAGA Dan? 
New Jersey property taxes are supposed to distribute a municipality’s tax levy according to the relative value of properties. The municipal budget determines how much money must be raised; assessments determine who pays what share. The state explicitly describes the assessment process as one of achieving uniform and equitable treatment.
Suppose a town needs to collect $50 million:
- Home A is worth $500,000
- Home B is worth $1 million
- Home C is worth $2 million
If all three are accurately assessed at market value, C should bear roughly four times the tax burden of A.
The problem is that property values don’t remain static.
Suppose the following:
- You bought your house for $400,000.
- But it is now worth $800,000.
- Your assessment remains relatively low because the town hasn’t revalued on an annual or semi-annual basis.
Under rolling reassessments, that “value advantage” of the homeowner gradually disappears thanks to Pronti’s incessant commitment to higher taxes and the increased spending and borrowing that comes with it!
The more property taxes the government collects, the more they spend with little to no input from homeowners.
And when did increasing property taxes ever solve anything except increase your personal financial burden?
In theory, assessments follow the market. That doesn’t automatically mean your tax bill doubles the tax rate should adjust downward when the aggregate assessment base rises. New Jersey municipalities and counties explicitly emphasize that reassessment itself is intended to be revenue neutral.
But your share of the tax levy can increase if your property is appreciated faster than the municipality as a whole.
So, who are the losers in this reassessment process?
Owners whose property has been appreciated substantially faster than the municipal average. Long-time homeowners whose assessment has remained low and owners of particularly desirable properties, and commercial property owners whose values have increased significantly.
And there’s an important economic consideration which is a rolling assessment that exposes winners and losers every year! A traditional revaluation may produce one impact every 7-10 years while a rolling system produces consistent and continual impacts that can be unequitable and unfair to the longtime homeowner, especially a senior on a fixed income that could be potentially gentrified out of their homes.
So why don’t more New Jersey towns follow Pronti and North Arlington?
The main reason is the cost. It’s expensive and labor intensive and intrusive on the homeowner.
Pronti, who has little tolerance for people who fundamentally disagree with him, remarked “people who struggle with understanding the entire process.”
If Pronti is correct, why do 83% of New Jersey municipalities, both Democrat & Republican not support or subscribe to his reassessment practices?
Does it help the homeowner, or just maximize and reap more revenue to further spend more tax dollars consistently?
In his bold and continued arrogance, Pronti further states “there is a small percentage of people who struggle with understanding the entire process.”
What?
Is MAGA Dan now an expert on property tax reassessments?
The arrogance knows no bounds!
In essence, if you disagree with Dan and agree with the 83% of New Jersey municipalities who also disagree, are you stupid?
Annual reassessment requires sophisticated property data, sales analysis, appraisal expertise, and continuing review. New Jersey’s own 2026 legislative proposal acknowledged that traditional reassessment/revaluation processes can be labor intensive and expensive, particularly when interior inspections are required.
That is a substantial line-item, budgetary burden for a small municipality, especially the size of a North Arlington.
If someone’s assessment rises 25%, the homeowner sees the assessment change and potentially a higher tax bill.
Something Pronti either is ignoring or just dismissing because he believes he’s the smartest person in the room with no tolerance for dissent or discussion of a valid policy disagreement!
Even when the municipality is technically revenue-neutral, the redistribution of the tax burden creates winners and losers, and fairness and equity become topics of discussion.
A North Arlington homeowner who has owned a property for 20 or 30 years may have an assessment substantially below current market value.
They have an implicit tax advantage.
Pronti in effect is taking that card out of the homeowner’s hand!
And here is the bottom-line: municipalities don’t necessarily have to undertake a full annual revaluation to remain within the broader assessment system. In effect, they can adjust the system periodically (5, 7 or 10 years) rather than constantly which is now the case with only Republicans and Pronti governing in a vacuum and in a political monopoly.
No Democrat has served since 2019.
How about just one Democrat to watch the store for taxpayers?
Pronti pretty much does as he pleases with no resistance from his hand-picked, rubber stamp Borough Council.
In every roll call vote, they all vote “yes” 100% of the time!
There is no discussion, debate, or consideration of both sides of any issue.
Pronti runs the show, and you as the taxpayer pay the bills!
With responsible two-party, bipartisan government nonexistent in North Arlington, the argument for continued rolling reassessments is rigged, lopsided and without a valid second opinion or diagnosis.
Democratic mayoral candidate John Balwierczak is committed to a fair and equitable process that provides the least amount of burden and taxation on North Arlington’s homeowners, something Pronti refuses to do with his “my way or the highway” rhetoric.
And one last thought.
Does North Arlington benefit from one, singular and authoritarian point-of-view when it is the Borough Council and not Pronti who created the situation, we find ourselves today?
Nothing changes with only one political party in charge, and nothing will ever change when you have a political bully in Pronti who has six political puppets who owe their seats to him!
John Balwierczak is a life-long resident who graduated from North Arlington High School. He left the Republican Party to offer the community a legitimate choice, an alternative to Pronti’s unpopular rolling reassessments.
He’s not from Bayonne, and he doesn’t follow the failed practices of massive overdevelopment which is turning NA into Belleville with the proliferation of apartments all over Ridge Road!
Bring back responsible two-party governance with a healthy mix of Democrats and Republicans working together for consensus and placing North Arlington taxpayers first!
Meet John Balwierzcak, the Democratic candidate for Mayor of North Arlington. 
Call or e-mail him at (201) 655-8497 or [email protected]
He’ll be happy to stop by and say hello, upfront, and one on one!
He wants and seeks your input and discussion.