ROP

Curran moves to set levels for county’s assessment roll

Luke Torrance
County Executive Laura Curran during her State of the County speech in Garden City. (Photo by Janelle Clausen)
County Executive Laura Curran. (Photo by Janelle Clausen)

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran signed an executive order last Wednesday requiring the county’s levels of assessment to be set for the January 2019 tentative assessment roll.

“The County needs a defensible assessment roll to stop the cycle of mass settlements and borrowing that has left an already cash-strapped County with over $700 million in cert debt,” Curran said, referring to money owed to taxpayers who filed successful challenges. 

The executive order required County Assessor David Moog to set the class one level of assessment — which covers one-, two-, and three-family homes — at 0.1 percent. Levels of assessment for property classes two, three and four — which includes apartments, condos, commercial and industrial, among others — was set at 1 percent. The levels would take effect for the 2020-21 tax year. 

This will mark the first time in eight years that the county’s assessment roll has been updated. As the years went by and real estate values in the county continued to grow, the difference between the most recent assessed value and actual market value diverged. As a result, challenges to the county’s assessment by some homeowners pushed the tax burden onto others.

In March, Curran signed an executive order to unfreeze the assessment roll for the first time since 2011. More than 400,000 residential and commercial properties would be reassessed, with class one properties assessed from 0.25 percent of what they are worth.

But the Curran administration changed course in mid-September after research showed that it would be difficult for the county to win assessment challenges against wealthy homeowners under that plan. In a memo sent to the county executive, Moog said that the plan could lead to mass settlements on assessment challenges or tax refunds totaling $100 million to $200 million.

“Unfortunately, the stipulation signed in 2011 — and extended in 2016 — all but guaranteed that the County would not be able to defend against a ratio challenge were it to maintain the .25 percent class one level of assessment,” Moog said in a statement.

The change, Moog said, would ensure a consistent level of assessment regardless of whether or not a resident files a grievance.

In addition to the change from 0.25 to 0.1 percent, Curran said that her administration would draft state legislation that would transition over five years any relative changes in class one tax burden that could otherwise result from the reassessment.

From the Nassau Legislature, Curran is seeking approval for a contract with Prognose, a software program that will help residents better understand the county’s assessment of their property.

Prognose will help deliver a new, superior level of customer service in the Department of Assessment as part of the reassessment,” Curran said. “My 2019 budget begins to rebuild the Department of Assessment and [the Assessment Review Commission] which were cut by the prior administration. With the use of Prognose, residents can finally gain insight into their property assessments.”

Reach reporter Luke Torrance by email at ltorrance@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516-307-1045, ext. 214, or follow him on Twitter @LukeATorrance

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