Nicholas Montenegro Sworn In To Tax Board

After almost three months alone on the dais, P.G. Waxman, commissioner on the Ocean County Board of Taxation, has been joined by a second member. Nicholas Montenegro, an attorney from Point Pleasant, was sworn into office yesterday, by retired Superior Court Judge James D. Clyne. After the oath, Montenegro took his seat as the second commissioner on the panel, which still has five empty seats. The board hears property tax appeals from residents living in the county's 33 municipalities, acting as a quasi-judicial body. "He cleared his calendar for the next four months," quipped Waxman, who was also sworn in Thursday for a second, five-year term on the tax board. The board faces a daunting workload that includes hearing the appeals of 14,128 cases in 2009. By comparison, Bergen County — with the second-highest number of appeals and twice Ocean County's population — has just 8,000 cases this year. As the lone commissioner since March, Waxman could hear appeals — with the exception of those appeals in his hometown of Lakewood — but was barred by guidelines set forth from the state Attorney General's Office from rendering rulings on his own. (Click here for the full article from app.)