Three New Jersey Supreme Court justices seemed to doubt Verizon New Jersey Inc.‘s statutory interpretation during oral arguments Thursday in a long-running dispute over its obligation to pay municipal taxes to the Borough of Hopewell on its phone equipment.

Verizon wants the high court to overturn an appeals court ruling that the company’s equipment is covered by the state’s personal property tax on utilities for 2009 because it provided dial tone and access to 51% of the borough’s telephone exchange in 2008.

Verizon argues that it isn’t the “local telephone exchange” for most of Hopewell because that term is ...