How's Ortley (Toms River Township) Beach NJ (Asbury Park, Seaside Heights: condo, crime)

[crv1010]

Looking at homes in Ortley Beach NJ. Part of Toms River Township. Anyone advise re pros & cons? I looked at the Toms River Township Police Dept web site and their crime stats are about 5 years old. I tried calling the PD to inquire about crime in Ortley Beach and I got the run around and no crime stats.

[clevedark]

If you have kids I wouldn't recommend it since it's kind of isolated and desolate in the winter.

[JERSEY MAN]

Toms River just did a reevaluation and many people are in an uproar as their tax bill has doubled. One person owns a gas station and has been trying to sell it for 800K for 2 years and can't. Guess what the company that revalued now says it's worth 2.2 million. His bill nearly tripled go figure. Only in NJ

[timneh5]

Friends of mine live in Ortley full time and love it there. But, their property taxes went through the roof as a result of the last reval. I've shopped in some of the stores and used the beach; it's a real nice area. I wish I could afford to buy a beach house there!

The off-season is quiet, but a lot more people live there year round. So much in fact, a veterinarian opened up an animal hospital there.

[timneh5]

Check the Asbury Park Press for crime stats (APP.com | Asbury Park Press | Monmouth and Ocean counties news, community, entertainment, yellow pages and classifieds. Serving Monmouth and Ocean counties, NJ)

Also, Ortley News - Topix

[Pool0890]

Stay away from Ortley. They are basically a beach community controlled by apathetic politicians from the mainland. They are represented by a Ward Councilwoman who works full time for Seaside Hts...a clear conflict of interests.

The Town Council President has had IRS issues. The current Mayor was a last minute replacement because the Council President couldn't run for Mayor due to those IRS issues. I think the next time the Mayor shows up for a meeting will be his first. I don't think he even knows how to get to Ortley Beach.

They were recently reassessed and RE taxes doubled or tripled for them while going down on the mainland.

They get the bare minimum resources like Police & Sanitation. Ambulance service is provided by a volunteer service and if they can't respond you'd better drive yourself to the hospital because the Township ambulances are never off the mainland. Fire services are provided by Seaside Heights through a contract with Toms River Fire District. Get this the Fire District pays Seaside Heights about $70,000. for the year yet Ortley homeowners pay about $600,000. in taxes for fire protection!

As far as the Police Dept goes don't expect anything what so ever but the run-around when you ask them for any crime related information. Their Chief is a great story teller but not much else. They will never release their crime stats even to the media.

[VeradoDan]

Like everyone else said: It's a great place to live until you see the tax bill. Crime is nonexistent, so don't worry about that. Really, the only downside is the insane property tax rate after the last revaluation.

[VeradoDan]

Originally Posted by Pool0890

They will never release their crime stats even to the media.

That's a ridiculous statement. If someone from the media (or any other citizen) files an Open Public Records Act request it will most certainly be honored by TRPD, especially since they don't have a choice. Plus, their stats are released to the FBI every year as requird.. What does TR Township have to hide anyway? There aren't any real crime issues in town. Probably 90% of the township's crime is in one condo development in the middle of the woods.

[Pool0890]

Originally Posted by VeradoDan

That's a ridiculous statement. If someone from the media (or any other citizen) files an Open Public Records Act request it will most certainly be honored by TRPD, especially since they don't have a choice. Plus, their stats are released to the FBI every year as requird.. What does TR Township have to hide anyway? There aren't any real crime issues in town. Probably 90% of the township's crime is in one condo development in the middle of the woods.

For your information Ortley had a serious burglary problem over this past summer. At a public meeting the TRPD Police Chief became very defensive when asked how many burglaries Ortley Beach had for the year. He refused to answer the question by ridiculously and incredibly stating that it would affect the investigation. The first poster is right...if you check the TRPD web site it has 2005 crime stats.

What do they have to hide? Easy answer the less the public knows about how much crime is occuring in their community the less headaches & accountability the Chief has.

I could find the FBI stats for Toms River but try finding out how much crime occurs in the Ortley Beach section. The TRPD's answer is they don't break it down like that! What a bunch of BS!

VeradoDan perhaps you could prove me wrong. Try filing a OPRA for crime stats for the Ortley Beach section of Toms River Township ....good luck my friend....but I wouldn't hold my breath!

[VeradoDan]

Well, I don't live in Ortley Beach, so I'm not concerned enough about burglaries there to file OPRA requests. But if YOU were to file one, they would have to comply by law or else they could be sued or fined. If you really are having problems, I could give you the name of a OPRA watchdog who goes after municipal agencies that don't comply with the requests. PM me if you'd like his name.

There may be some burglaries in Ortley because many of the homes are unoccupied during the winter. Speaking to a Brick PD officer recently, he told me Brick has had a lot of success preventing burglaries by using their police boat to patrol the lagoons during the fall/winter months. Basically, an officer on a boat can sneak up on any suspicious activity and alert a patrol unit on land. Perhaps TRPD could do something similar. I believe they have Brick PD's old boat (Mantoloking PD has the other).