NOVEMBER 2018 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 17
POINT OF VIEW
FIXING ASSESSMENT:
NASSAU’S NEW GUARANTEE
By LAURA CURRAN
Nassau County Executive
Whether combating the opioid
epidemic, tracking hurricanes, or
fixing Nassau County’s property
assessment system, when it comes
to responsible government, data
matters.
New County Assessor David Moog
and I found troubling data after we
delved deep into the latest residential
property values. An assessment-data
expert further analyzed our discovery.
The data — developed by the
Department of Assessment and a
reliable county contractor — came
from Nassau’s first reassessment of
every property since 2010.
The data showed a gulf between
new and old residential property
values. Why? The old valuations were
grossly inaccurate.
Property values in the real world
were rising. But the county’s assessment
roll was frozen. Annual rounds
of successful property tax challenges
resulting in assessment reductions
compounded the problem.
Hundreds of thousands of homeowners
grieve their assessments
annually, which is their right. Most
win a reduction. But property owners
shouldn’t have to grieve to get
their correct assessment.
Nassau could not defend against
an annual avalanche of up to 200,000
grievances, and was forced into mass
settlements. Why did the county
lose so many grievances? Because
the county was unable to defend the
uniform level of assessment of .25
percent using the inaccurate market
values under the old system.
I’d planned to use that same number,
after the reassessment — until
I saw the troubling data. That data,
when combined with the impact of
the prior administration’s stipulation
with taxpayer representatives,
showed that the county would basically
have the same assessment roll
as the corrupted, frozen roll if we
kept the level of assessment at .25
percent.
That means we’d have done all the
hard work on the new assessments to
end up where we started — with an
indefensible assessment roll and the
need for hundreds of thousands of
mass annual settlements. Again.
I take very seriously my pledge to
clean up the assessment mess, and I
am going to do just that — starting
with a new, defensible level of home
value assessment of .10 percent.
What does this new level of assessment
mean for homeowners? They
will retain the right to challenge their
assessment. And they can learn how
the new level of assessment will impact
individual property rates with a
comprehensive outreach effort effort
starting November 1 that includes
in-person appointments.
I will protect taxpayers from the
shift in rates with proposed New York
State legislation providing transitional
caps on any relative assessment
increases over five years. And with
new property values recaptured on
the assessment roll, many taxpayers
will see a reduction in taxes.
We will get an assessment roll that
is both defensible and accurate for all
county homeowners. And as more
data becomes available in the coming
weeks, I will share it. That is my guarantee
to every property taxpayer –
full transparency as we fix the mess
left by the prior administration.
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