Nassau Assessor Moog mimics Sergeant Schultz

Sergeant Schultz of Hogan's Heroes (from tenor.com)

"I know nothing. I hear nothing. I see nothing."

Nassau Assessor David Moog did a pretty good imitation last month of Sergeant Schultz from the old Hogan's Heroes television show.

In sworn testimony for a lawsuit challenging the legality Nassau's reassessment, Moog said he did not know or did not recall nearly everything controversial involved with the countywide reassessment completed in 2018 under his watch.

He contended he never even talked to County Executive Laura Curran before he was told in May 2018 that he had been hired as Nassau's assessor and started working for the county on June 26, 2018. He also claims he never emailed Curran about the reassessment.

Nor, he claimed, did he know anything about what the company hired to do residential reassessments, Standard Valuation Services,  had done before he arrived on June 26,  nor had he read any of the studies they submitted before then, not even a report delivered six days before he started work.

He also said he didn't do any research before being called to give sworn testimony about reassessment for the lawsuit.


"I'm quite busy with many other functions right now," Moog explained.


Moog's deposition is part of the court records for a lawsuit filed by Sands Point homeowner Eric Berliner and three other Nassau homeowners who contend the reassessment was arbitrary, secretive and violated constitutional guarantees of equal protection.

Nassau Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria has approved class action status for the lawsuit and scheduled trial to begin Aug. 31, though there are unverified rumors of a settlement.

The plaintiff's lawyer Alan Kaplan questioned Moog on July 8.

He asked Moog how it happened that he applied for the $165,000 job of county assessor.

Moog said he was told about the job from an unidentified acquaintance in the county's assessment department and submitted his resume. He said he was told in May that he got the job.

"Had you spoken to Laura Curran at anytime during that process, April or May 2018?" Kaplan asked.

"No," Moog replied.

Moog said he had been interviewed for the job by County Attorney Jared Kasschau, Deputy County Attorney Conal Denion and then Deputy County Executive Mark Page.

"By the way," Kaplan asked a little later, "Did you ever email with Laura Curran?"

"Very, very infrequently and probably less than two or three emails...mainly dealing with scheduling if I had to go to an event but nothing about the reassessment," Moog said

So who did Moog meet with in the administration during the reassessment? Kaplan inquired.

Moog said he dealt with Chief Deputy County Executive Helena Williams and Page, but seldom exchanged emails.

"It was mostly face-to-face meetings," Moog said.

Any record of those meetings? Were any notes taken? Kaplan asked.


"Not that I recall," Moog replied.

Did you take any notes?

"No, no," Moog said.

Kaplan referred to a June 20 report from SVS and asked if Moog had received it "in preparation of your coming on board?"

Moog replied. "I received nothing upon coming on board. I was very very busy closing out my prior job."

Moog testified at the start of the deposition that he had been the negotiator for a number of collective bargaining units represented by District Council 37 AFSCME, AFL-CIO for five years. Before that he had worked more than for two decades in the city in various assessment jobs.

 "When you came on board in June of 2018, were you told under what circumstances SVS was employed by the county?" Kaplan asked

"No, I was not."

"Were you told under what contract they were working?"

"I was told they were working under contract. That's all I was told."

"Did you ever review the contract?"

"No I did not."

As background, former Republican County Executive Ed Mangano had hired SVS in 2015 to do a "systematic review" of residential values. Curran, a Democrat, extended their contract to a full reassessment when she took office in 2018. 

Kaplan said, "And you're saying that from the time you first learned about the lawsuit 16 months ago until today's deposition, you haven't done any research into what was going on in the assessment process prior to June of 2018 in Nassau County?"

"That is correct," Moog said.

"Do you know what SVS was doing in 2016 and 2017,"

"No, I do not."

On behalf of Nassau County?.

"No I do not," Moog said.

Kaplan went through various aspects of the reassessent with Moog, including the use of home sale markets and neighborhoods to determine residential values.

And remember that Curran had repeatedly promised transparency in her administration.

"I'm more interested in what was available to the taxpayer," Kaplan said to Moog. "Was there any information put out by the county on its website or anywhere else that would have explained to the taxpayer why they were put in one market area as opposed to another market area?"

"No," Moog replied.

"Was there any information put out on the website which would have listed criteria for the taxpayer  so they could determine why they were placed in one neighborhood as opposed to another neighborhood?"

"No," Moog said.


The deposition went on for nearly 200 pages.