Nassau County Democrats accused County Executive Ed Mangano on Monday of discouraging homeowners from filing tax grievances under a new tax assessment reform plan initiated last year.
Attacking Mangano’s revised tax assessment and grievance system at a press conference in Mineola Monday, Democrats Wayne Wink of Roslyn and Dave Denenberg of Merrick were accompanied by homeowners frustrated with the new plan.
According to the Democrats, thousands of county residents are still waiting for notice from the Department of Assessment stating their homes’ assessed value while being forced to grieve their assessment without knowing their property’s real value.
“Residents need more critical information regarding assessed value, the result of last year’s grievance and comparable sales the county used to calculate a home’s value,” said county legislator Dave Denenberg. “Without information, residents are being left in the dark.”
Under the current system, taxpayers are apparently not provided with the proposed assessed values, comparables and result’s of last year’s challenges.
“Mangano promised reform, but all we are getting is regression,” said Denenberg.
As of Monday, Rep. Wink had not received his letter through the mail but was able to find it on the Internet.
“I was able to print my letter online,” said Wink at the press conference. ” But the fact of he matter is, the typical homeowner is not sophisticated enough to necessarily know that’s how they can go about getting the letter.”
In a statement to Blank Slate Media, the Brian Nevin, Mangano’s senior policy advisor, called the news conference “partisan politics to grab a quick headline.”
“The county executive has implemented numerous reforms to the system to correct the problems and stop the waste. Legislator Denenberg and his Democrat colleagues messed up the system so badly that it cannot be corrected overnight,” said Nevine.
According to Nevine, the former Democrat majority failed taxpayers by sitting idle for a decade as the system got worse and wasted taxpayer money.
“Legislator Denenberg had the power to fix the system but instead sided with wealthy special interest groups who got rich and filled the Democrat campaign coffers while they were robbing taxpayers,” said Nevin
A Port Washington resident said the new plan consists of a veiled transparency
“Can you imagine be arrested an charged with a crime but there not going to tell you what the crime is or what they based it on?”
Nevine said the Department of Assessment’s provides a link to the county’s Assessment Review On the Web online site that provides this information.
Long Island resident Joe Anderatta from Seaford said he has received reductions over the last few years but has had to split them with the lawyers.
“It’s insanity, we have to stop the merry-go- round. It’s not fair to the taxpayers.”
Homeowner’s tentative values are posted on the county’s DOA website each year on Jan. 2 and a copy of the annual notice also appears as a PDF online, according to Nevin.
