Nassau County Executive Laura Curran recently said she expects to complete a full reassessment of all properties in the county by the time a new tentative tax roll is issued at the beginning of 2019.
In most of the known universe, this would hardly be cause for celebration.
But this is Nassau County and it’s been a while since the rules of the universe have applied here.
In 2011, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano froze all assessment increases. But, this being Nassau, he continued year after year to grant reductions to property owners and tax appeal firms that filed challenges on the value assigned to the properties by the county.
The tax appeal firms received an estimated $500 million in business thanks to this system, and county politicians received large campaign contributions. Property owners who filed challenges also usually won, sharing their savings in most cases with the tax appeal firms.
The losers in this system were anyone who did not challenge their property taxes and the county.
A Newsday investigation found Mangano’s system created a $1.7 billion shift in the tax burden, overwhelmingly onto lower-valued homes and office buildings.
And the county faced the expense of paying for the rebates. This year the cost to the county – and county taxpayers – was $70 million.
So Curran deserves a good deal of credit for trying to create an assessment system that is fair.
She is also going to need some help in educating people when county residents get their tax bills next year. Which might not be easy.
County Legislature Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said of the planned reassessment, “Whatever is proposed must be fair to the already overburdened property taxpayers.”
This is either troubling, strange or both.
A reassessment does not change the amount the county collects — just who pays for it.
Under the current assessment system, there are many people who are paying too much in property taxes because their property is valued too high in relation to other property owners.
Which means that under a new, fairer and more accurate system people paying too much will see their taxes go down.
And others, many of whom have successfully filed appeals, will see their taxes go up.
Relatively speaking, at least, those who have successfully challenged their taxes — often at the urging of town and county officials — are and have been underburdened property taxpayers.
One way to soften the blow to residents facing higher tax bills would be for Nassau County to reduce overall spending. Good luck with that.
So get ready for the cries of taxpayers who enjoyed the benefits of this system complaining about their taxes going up as well as the cheers of others who see them go down.
This is the price of bad governance — both on the part of Mangano and the county legislators who allowed this to happen.
And it is not as if they couldn’t have seen this coming.
In 2000, Nassau County undertook reforms after settling a lawsuit alleging it had — surprise, surprise — overtaxed homeowners in minority neighborhoods.
In 2003, there was a countywide reassessment and then property values were updated regularly until Mangano stepped in.
Congressman Tom Suozzi, who served as county executive during the reassessment, said when he left office in 2008 Nassau had the ability to reassess property on a yearly basis.
Former Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos advocated yearly reassessments based on real value last year during his primary campaign against Curran.
This is a concept that should be familiar to everyone who has bought or sold property in Nassau County.
Buyers, sellers and the just plain curious routinely go online to see what comparable homes sold for on the Multiple Listing Service or county Tax Assessors’ Office website.
Curran can leave a lasting legacy if she can create a system in which all property in the county is reassessed every year. In the year 2018, that should not be asking too much.
The yearly reassessments would ensure that property owners are paying their fair share – no more, no less. Prevent disruptions like the one taxpayers are about to experience. And stop the county’s bleeding from tax challenges.
“It is an important issue that the county must get its arms around in order to reduce the large amounts of tax refund claims and its negative impact on the budget,” said Adam Barsky, chairman of the county’s financial control board.
The state-authorized control board has overseen the finances of Nassau County, one of the wealthiest counties in New York, since 2000.
It is time that state control ended. A rational assessment system is a good place to start.
