WEST MILFORD - It's one of the dirtiest words you can say to a homeowner: "revaluation."

There have been rumors that this township will be undergoing a revaluation soon, but they're not true.

In a revaluation, inspectors visit your home, tally up all its accouterments, and assess the value of your house and land to bring it in line with current real estate values. Usually, this translates to homeowners having a more valuable home on paper, but paying a lot more in property taxes. But if the housing market stays in its current slump, by the time the homes in West Milford are revalued, the impact will not be so severe.

West Milford residents ought to fare better than their neighbors in Pequannock, where a revaluation was performed in 2005 - at the height of the real estate market - when property values were disconnected from reality. Many residents there found themselves with homes valued at much more than anyone would actually pay for them. People on fixed incomes said they would have to move out after their homes were reassessed there.

This horror story is not likely to happen here, at least not in the near future.

The average home in West Milford is assessed at about $135,000.

Resident Ada Erik expressed fears to the mayor and council at their Feb. 27 meeting about an impending revaluation in the township.

"We haven't been ordered yet, and we're not first, anyway, and we haven't received our orders as far as revaluation yet, and the council did discuss it already, and we'll put it off as long as we can," said Council President Joseph Smolinski.

Erik asked that West Milford try to hold off on getting revalued as long as possible.

"I don't know that we can pick or choose that ordering," said Mayor Bettina Bieri. "We did discuss that we hope to delay it as much as possible, but I believe the way it works is we get orders to do it (from Passaic County) and we have to comply within some timeframe."

"The plans for the county are, over the next three years, to order five towns per year (for revaluations)," said interim township business administrator Richard Kunze. "The first five towns have been ordered, but from what I heard, the second round of five, which I heard we were supposed to be a part of, that was supposed to be this year, but I've heard that has been delayed at least a year. That's the latest information I have."

"So, we've got a little bit of time in any case," said Bieri.

Township Attorney Fred Semrau said that the township would have to comply when it gets notice from the county to perform a revaluation. Formulas and factors contribute to when a municipality is revalued, "so we have an opportunity to look at those factors and take the position that we may or may not agree with it ... or agree that our ratio township-wide is not deserving of a revaluation, and that's the opportunity if necessary to fight or postpone (a revaluation)," said Semrau.

"So, we're on top of it, basically," said Bieri. "None of us is looking forward to it."