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Curran freezes Nassau’s property values for second consecutive year: report

Robert Pelaez
Former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran reportedly froze property values for the 2023-24 tax year before leaving office, according to a Newsday report. (Photo courtesy of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage)

Former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran froze the county’s residential property values for the  2023-24 tax year before she left office in December, according to a Newsday report.

Curran’s reported freezing of the property values marks the second consecutive year she decided to do so. In December 2020, Curran cited the economic uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic as she froze the property values.

“By temporarily pausing property assessments, we can allow families and businesses a little more certainty so they can focus on the task of rebuilding their finances at a time of enormous economic uncertainty,” Curran said at the time.

Acting Nassau County Assessor Robin Laveman confirmed the freeze to Newsday and cited the fluctuating real estate market. 

“Nassau County has paused property valuation updates due to continued instability of the real estate market,” Laveman told Newsday. “Therefore, unless you have received an assessment reduction, correction of error, physically altered an improvement or petitioned for a map change, your notice should reflect the same property assessment as the previous tax year, as former County Executive Laura Curran again froze the roll for 2023-24 at the 2022-23 level.”

Laveman also told Newsday that the administration of County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who criticized Curran’s assessment undertaking before defeating her in the November election, was analyzing the “reassessment and laws associated with its implementation to create a more fair, accurate and equitable system.”

Efforts to reach Curran, Laveman or Blakeman for further comment were unavailing.

Curran called for the reassessment of approximately 400,000 homes in 2018, for the 2020-21 tax year, after the county’s assessment roll had been frozen since 2011. During that period, thousands of residents filed grievances on the value of their homes, winning reduced assessments and shifting the tax burden onto others who did not challenge their assessments.

Of the 227,475 residential grievances filed on the 2020-21 tentative assessment roll, the commission made 60,760 reductions of class one properties, according to officials.

According to December statistics from OneKey MLS, a multiple listing service that includes Long Island, the median sale price for homes increased year-over-year by 6.6 percent to $645,0000 in Nassau County.

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