Another day, another multi-million dollar assessment error in Nassau

                                                                                  

Republican news conference alleging $13.7 million in assessment errors

Whoops.

Nassau Republicans today alleged another $13.7 million in property tax overcharges due to errors in Democratic Nassau County Executive Laura Curran's reassessment.

At a news conference attended by Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin, Tax Receiver Jeanine Driscoll and Nassau Legis. John Ferretti and Steve Rhoads --  all Republicans --  Driscoll announced that her office had discovered that the county's Assessment department had incorrectly calculated school tax exemptions for  28,500 veterans, undercharging them by $13.7 million.

Driscoll said the assessor's office had used a outdated statistic, called the level of assessment, to calculate the exemptions even though Curran had changed the level when she began her 2018 reassessment.

Doing the math, that gave each of those veterans an average $480 tax break on the school bills issued Nov. 1.

But Driscoll said it also shifted the $13.7 million onto some 371,000 other Nassau taxpayers. Again, doing the math, that means the mistake added an extra $37 on average to each of their school tax bills.

This error comes on top of the more than $2.7 million in residential overcharges the Curran administration admitted in December. On Monday her administration acknowledged overcharging $5.5 to $5.7 million in property taxes to some 5,000 veterans and clergy by not applying valid exemptions to their assessments.

With today's disclosure, that's more than $22 million in assessment mistakes to date.

Again, statistically speaking, the $22 million in property tax errors due to assessment errors adds an average $57 to $62 in extra taxes to every residential homeowner's total property tax bill.

And let's be realistic. It's an election year.

If there are errors in reassessment -- and there are -- Republicans are going to point them out.

Although a few Democratic legislators in 2018 urged Curran to take it slow on reassessment, Curran plowed full speed ahead.

The feeling seemed to be that doing reassessment in the first year of Curran's four-year term would get any negative impact over with by the time she was running  for re-election.

Property tax reassessments around the country have often led to the ouster of whoever was in charge of the reassessment.                   

That was the fate of former Nassau Assessor Charles O'Shea, an elected Republican, who oversaw the 2003  reassessment. Like Curran, he too contended his reassessment was among the best in the nation statistically speaking. But voters dumped him for challenger Harvey Levinson, a Democrat.

Then at the urging of then Democratic Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, voters in 2008 changed the assessor from an elected official to an appointee of the county executive.

The new values generated by Curran's 2018 reassessment were first used in  November's school tax bills and this month's general tax bills -- months away from election day in November, 2021.

Three potential Republican challengers to Curran were at today's press conference. Not Supervisor Don Clavin, who is up for re-election in November.

Although Clavin has been a longtime critic of the reassessment, it is expected that he will try to hold onto his job leading American's largest town in terms of population.

Ferretti of Levittown, Rhoads of Bellmore and Driscoll of Floral Park have all been talked about as potential challengers to Curran,

(Maybe that's why Driscoll has been holding news conferences every other week? She is in the middle of a four year term so running for county executive would be a free race for her. )

Driscoll today, without mentioning Curran by name, said, "I do call on the county executive to take some responsibility here...You appointed the county assessor...I think probably the first step is to do a complete overhaul" of the assessment department.

Ferretti said, "Its bad enough we’re here again talking about taking money out of Nassau residents pockets to make up for the errors of this administration. What is just as bad is the complete lack of accountability by the county executive and her assessor."

He noted that the Curran administration on Monday blamed the county computer for the more than $5 million in errors disclosed then.

"That’s like writing down wrong numbers and blaming the pencil," Ferretti said.

"People ask me what is the Curran tax. This is the Curran tax, " Rhoads said. "The Curran tax is real. The Curran tax is costing you money. And so far its up to $23 million and counting."

Clavin also attacked Curran, who had accused Clavin and Driscoll of  "deceitful misinformation" when they said in October that there were errors in the assessment roll.

"How about some real leadership and accountability," Clavin said. "This is the county executive's reassessment. It's now costing hundreds of thousands of residents more money. It's time for the county executive to do her job, take responsibility, because residents cannot afford any more errors and the millions of dollars in extra taxes they are paying because of the Curran tax."

So far no comment from the administration.