[Adopted 12-18-2001 by Ord. No. 01-26]
A.
There is
hereby created, effective as of January 1, 2008, the office of Joint
Municipal Tax Assessor of the Borough of Westwood and the Borough
of Woodcliff Lake, which shall consist of a single Tax Assessor who
shall be appointed by and upon the mutual agreement of the governing
bodies of the two municipalities to hold such office for a term of
years, as more specifically provided by law, and which may further
consist of such subordinate personnel as deemed necessary to perform
the assessment function in accordance with law.[1]
B.
The assessment
function of the Joint Municipal Tax Assessor shall be exercised in
the same manner and to the same extent as though it were exercised
in each municipality separately, and the tax list, duplicate, property
record cards, and all other records for each of the municipalities
shall be maintained separately and shall be available for public inspection
as otherwise required by law in the respective Borough Halls.
The compensation to be paid to the Tax Assessor appointed hereunder
shall be set and apportioned between the participating municipalities
upon the further agreement of the respective governing bodies thereof
at the time of the appointment as hereinbefore provided. The apportionment
of the compensation to be paid any subordinate personnel who may be
provided for in the agreement of conditions for operation shall be
fixed therein. The remaining cost and expense necessary to the maintenance
and operation of the joint office shall be apportioned between the
participating municipalities in percentages equal to the ratio that
the number of line items in each respective municipality bears to
the total of the two as required by law. When engaged in services
on behalf of a particular borough, all employees in the office of
the Joint Municipal Tax Assessor shall be deemed to be employees of
that borough for the purposes of processing the compensation of such
employees and for such other purposes as may not otherwise be fixed
by law, regulation, ordinance, or agreement of the municipalities.
There is hereby authorized an interlocal agreement or agreements,
which shall provide the further terms and conditions for the establishment,
maintenance and operation of the said joint office of Tax Assessor
not otherwise fixed by law, regulation, this article or other ordinances.
Such agreements shall be made upon the approval by resolution or,
if otherwise required, by ordinance duly adopted by the governing
bodies of each of the participating municipalities and shall be filed
with and subject to approval of the Director of the Division of Taxation
of the Department of the Treasury and the Director of the Division
of Local Government Services of the Department of Community Affairs,
to the extent required by law. The first such agreement, entitled
"Interlocal Services Agreement Between the Borough of Westwood and
the Borough of Woodcliff Lake Providing for the Establishment, Maintenance
and Operation of an Office of Joint Municipal Tax Assessor," is hereby
approved, effective as of January 1, 2008.
Any agreement made hereunder may be terminated upon the further
agreement of both the participating municipalities. Further, either
participating municipality may unilaterally terminate any agreement
made hereunder upon a resolution authorizing such termination duly
adopted upon the affirmative vote of 2/3 of the membership of the
Governing Body thereof, which resolution shall become effective no
sooner than six months from its adoption.[1]
