Mangano Reaches Historic Agreement to Reform Nassau County's Assessment System

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt and the Republican Legislature announced today an agreement on legislation to reform the commercial property assessment process and begin to reduce the loss of over $250 million in taxpayer money every year.  Nassau’s broken property tax assessment system costs the average home and business owner 30% in higher county property taxes each year.

“This is a giant step taken towards fixing the broken assessment system in our county,” said Mangano. “Reform of this broken assessment system is critical to getting Nassau County's finances back on track.”

Working with the commercial members of the Assessment Reform Team, Mangano has implemented a plan and begun to do what no administration has ever done—fix a system that has contributed to structural deficits in Nassau County for years.  As a result of today’s reforms, more commercial cases will be resolved before a tax roll is finalized.

“My reforms allow the County to begin avoiding the excessive refund liabilities that the taxpayers fund each year,” said Mangano. “Commercial property grievances comprise 80 percent of the tax grievances in Nassau, and residential homeowners pick up the tab for those grievances.”

The new legislation requires that commercial property owners who file grievances to submit a certified appraisal for each property owned, or make a offer of settlement or withdraw the tax grievance altogether and agree not to bring a judicial challenge to the assessment. Should the county’s dismissal right be found non-enforceable, a $4,000 fine would go into effect.

“Reforming the way commercial assessments are resolved in Nassau County continues today,” said Mangano.

Property owners must present this information to the Assessment Review Commission (ARC).  Within 150 days of submission, ARC must either accept the offer or make a counter offer with the property owner.  This new approach will be available to commercial property owners on a voluntary basis for the current tax year and will be mandatory beginning in 2011.

“I applaud that County Executive Ed Mangano has reached a compromise with all sides on the assessment issue which will benefit all the taxpayers of Nassau County,” said Presiding Officer Peter J. Schmitt.

 “Today's agreement is the result of discussions with County Executive Mangano and the Assessment Reform Team to truly reform Nassau's assessment system in a fair way for all.  These reforms will begin to reverse the waste of $250 million a year in taxpayer money," said Hamer.

Although today’s agreement does not affect residential properties, the County Executive in April signed an Executive Order ending the practice annually assessment homes and businesses by replacing it with a four-year cyclical system that begins in 2011.