First the good news.
The Nassau County Legislature approved a Curran administration request last week to borrow $2.2 million for pay two firms to reassess all county properties this year.
In a county in which properties have not been reassessed since 2011, this is a good thing.
Thanks to a dysfunctional county assessment system, which has rewarded owners who challenge their taxes and penalizes those who didn’t — many property owners have been underpaying their taxes and many property owners have been overpaying their taxes.
Now the bad news.
Moments after the Legislature’s approval, County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat, signed an executive order limiting assessment increases on residential properties to 6 percent annually or 20 percent over five years.
The 6 percent and 20 percent limits abide by a state law aimed at preventing homeowners from receiving sharp assessment hikes, which correlates to higher taxes.
But in signing this order, Curran decided to make the assessment system fairer but not fair.
Under Curran’s executive order, property owners who have been overpaying their taxes for the last six years could continue to overpay their taxes for at least the next five years to make up for the people who got an unfair break during the administration of Ed Mangano, a Republican.
Why?
Those who have rarely or never appealed their taxes will be taxed at fair market value much sooner and, therefore, face a higher burden.
How unfair is this?
The limit of a 20 percent limit on increases over five years should give you a good idea of just unfair. And then think about property owners whose assessments are 30 percent too low or 40 percent too low.
Who says crime doesn’t pay? Or at least finding a way to have your property grossly under-assessed doesn’t pay?
Curran’s order guarantees that those who were greatest beneficiaries of the dysfunctional assessment system under Mangano will be the greatest beneficiaries under Curran — and perhaps beyond.
This was not lost on county legislators who represent areas with a higher percentage of low income and minority constituents, who were less likely to challenge their assessments.
County legislators Siela Bynoe, Minority Leaders Kevan Abrahams and Carrie Solages cast the lone votes against the borrowing to pay the two firms to reassess the properties. They were joined in the criticism of the borrowing by Tracey Edwards, Long Island’s regional director of the NACCP.
“We never thought this administration … would turn around and create another broken system that all of you would own,” Edwards told legislators according to Newsday.
The bad news did not stop there.
Curran later submitted a last-minute proposal for inclusion in the state budget that if a hearing officer determined that a property was overassessed by 5 percent or less there would be no reduction in assessment.
Think about that for a moment.
Imagine if you were overcharged 5 percent at a store or restaurant — $5 on a $100 bill — and when you complained the owners said that since you were only overcharged 5 percent they were not going to adjust your bill.
This would be an invitation for our cash-strapped county to overassess every property owner in the county by 5 percent.
“County Executive is about to take away your rights to a ‘Property Tax Reduction!'” wrote Empire Tax Reductions. “This margin of error would restrict the rights of Nassau County homeowners to challenge their tax assessments.”
There are two things to consider about the statement from Empire Tax Reductions.
The first is that they were one of the main beneficiaries of the assessment system created by Mangano — for which he was rewarded with large campaign contributions. So their concern for county taxpayers constitutes world-class chutzpah.
The second is that with regard to the 5 percent limit they are right.
Hempstead Town Receiver of Taxes Donald Clavin was even more to the point. Curran’s plan, he said, was a “license to steal” and a “money grab.”
Supporting the criticism is how Curran attempted to get the limit approved — a last-minute proposal behind the backs of state legislators including those representing Nassau County.
“Not only did I not know anything about this, none of my Senate colleagues and most importantly, my leadership knew nothing about this, said state Sen. Elaine Phillips (R-Flower Hill), referring to Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, according to a report in Newsday.
Phillips said she received “over 1,000 emails” about the proposal after news about it broke Thursday evening.
Fortunately for Nassau County property owners, state lawmakers rejected Curran’s proposal.
We would like to think that Curran has learned her lesson.
But, if not, we have a few suggestions.
Hire two qualified firms to reassess all county property. And then let people pay what they owe.
For those facing large increases in their assessment, and their taxes, apologize for the incompetence, if not worse, of the Mangano administration and remind them they were not paying their fair share in recent years.
For those who have overpaid, tell them you intend to never let that happen again.
And if you have any ideas that need the Legislature’s approval, try talking to the legislators first.
