ARC overwhelmed? Complaints about error messages from Nassau website

                                                                        

Error message from ARC website

 

Some Nassau taxpayers who grieved their tax assessment for next year are complaining that they are getting error messages when they try to electronically accept reduction offers from Nassau's Assessment Review Commission, the county agency in charge of deciding tax protests.

Legis. John Ferretti (R-Levittown) said today his wife received the same message when she attempted to accept ARC's offer on their home.

"The errors occurring during (County Executive) Laura Curran's disastrous reassessment are so common they have become expected by Nassau residents, " Ferretti said in an email. "Unfortunately, in this case, residents are left to wonder if their acceptance of their settlement offer even went through, and when they call the administration to confirm, they rarely even bother to take the call adding insult to injury. Residents deserve better."

A spokesman for Curran, a Democrat, did not respond to an inquiry about the apparent problem.

A number of the 30,000 members of Attorney Jeff Gold's "Nassau Grieve Your Tax Assessment - Free" Facebook page also complained about receiving the error message, the website shows.

Many also reported being pleased that they had received assessment reductions as a result of their protests.

Gold even posted in reaction, "Best line so far.  ARC's giving it away like samples at Costco. Truthfully didn't see this coming. Enjoy folks, can't last forever."

Maybe Gold's page was too successful and ARC was overwhelmed.

But Gold today doubted there was an ongoing problem.

"I think the error has been corrected," he said in an email. "Too many people logging in on a holiday when there were no techs working. I've been able to log in today."

As for the number of reductions, Gold said, "I don't have enough data to know if what ARC is doing is correct.  I'm personally surprised to see so many reductions of 10% plus, but its just anecdotal."

Gold served in the past on the former Board of Assessors during the county's 2003 reassessment and then as an ARC commissioner during the Democratic administration of County Executive Thomas Suozzi. 

He added, "I have some concerns that ARC offering a large number of big reductions will force up schools rates  even further, when those rates should be coming down as more property value comes on the roles during the phase-in.   Last year, ARC substituted expediency but it was bizarre year with Covid shortening the period for scar review."

Gold was referring to Curran's five-year phase-in of new values resulting from the 2018 reassessment. Increases and decreases in assessment, based on tentative values, are to be phased in over five years.

"I'm assuming that ARC will take a stand next year, when strong 2020 sales will make the DOA (Department of Assessment) valuations  look very reasonable," Gold wrote. "If not, reassessment will likely fail as those that grieve every year continue to get reductions."

Curran pushed for the reassessment after her predecessor, Republican County Executive Edward Mangano, froze assessment increases for eight years except for new construction and additions, while granting thousands of assessment decreases.

Although the settlement program eliminated an average $30 million annual cost of residential refunds for Nassau, it shifted the tax burden from those homeowners who grieved their assessments onto those who did not. School tax rates jumped alarmingly to make up for program's overall reduction in school districts' assessed values.