Ousted Washington Twp. tax assessor settles for $50,000

Washington Township’s former tax assessor has accepted a $50,000 settlement of the lawsuit she filed last year that claimed she was prematurely removed a year earlier than expected from the job in the Morris County community.

Attorney Michael J. Hanifan Sr., who represented tax assessor Anna-Maria Obiedzinski, said the settlement with the township involves no admissions of any wrongdoing. Superior Court records in Morristown show the settlement was recorded April 28.

The $50,000 is on top of $6,790 in legal fees the township was ordered to pay Hanifan last year by a Superior Court judge who ruled that Obiedzinski’s Open Public Records Act request for information about the assessor’s position was wrongly denied.

Court records show that lawyers for the township’s insurance carrier were unsuccessful twice in trying to get a judge to dismiss Obiedzinski’s claims before the settlement was reached.

Obiedzinski, who is tax assessor in Tewksbury, sued Washington Township in June 2014, saying she was given a four-year appointment as part-time assessor beginning on July 1, 2011. She said the township committee replaced her a year early, as of July 1, 2014, with Assistant Assessor Donna Re.

Obiedzinski’s lawsuit said the township first gave her a 90-day probationary term as assessor in May 2010 followed by a second 90-day extension. On Nov. 15, 2010, the township passed a resolution that stated she would have a full, four-year appointment starting July 1, 2011 and ending June 30, 2015. Obiedzinski worked continuously as assessor between November 2010 and June 30, 2011, and the full appointment she believed was for four years commenced in July 2011.

The township’s position in 2014 was that the probationary term followed by the full, four-year term was not legal according to laws pertaining to tax assessors. The township also claimed that Obiedzinski was not “removed,” just not reappointed.

Obiedzinski’s last salary in Washington Township was $52,795 and her successor, Donna Re, started at a salary of $60,000.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.