Legislators OK Curran plan to reassess properties

Luke Torrance
County Executive Laura Curran.

The Nassau County Legislature approved the borrowing Monday of $2.2 million requested by County Executive Laura Curran to pay two firms to reassess county properties in 2018.

Shortly thereafter, Curran signed an executive order that would limit assessment increases on residential properties.

“The Legislature… helped to get us on the path to fairness and accuracy,” Curran said during a press conference on Tuesday.

Under Curran’s executive order, assessment increases on residential property would be limited to 6 percent annually or 20 percent over five years, Curran said.

The county has not valued property to assess taxes in years, which has hurt the county and its residents, Curran said.

“The tax rolls have been frozen since 2011, but really there has been no significant change since 2009,” she said. “In those nine years… we’ve seen an unfair shift in the burden of [assessments].”

She said the goal was to have a tentative assessment roll ready in January 2019.

The Assessment Review Commission, which handles the assessment, is currently being audited by county Comptroller Jack Schnirman.

But some legislators and residents were uneasy about the changes. According to Newsday, some residents are concerned that it takes too long for homeowners who have won tax appeals recently to begin paying their fair share. In the past, the tax revenue lost from those who appealed the process was often passed off to those who could not afford to appeal, Newsday said. And those homeowners who had to bear the burden were often minority.

Those concerns led three legislators — Siela Bynoe (D-Westbury), Carrié Solages (D-Elmont) and Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport) — to vote against borrowing the $2.2 million.

Responding to the controversy, Curran said that delaying the assessment even longer would just make things worse for those who are being crushed under the current system.

“If we don’t start now, if we pause, we will waste the money that we spent on the work that has already been done and… the disparity will continue to grow,” she said.

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