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County Republicans to force public hearing on plan to freeze assessments Nassau County Republicans are out gathering thousands of signatures to hold a public hearing on a GOP proposal to freeze residential real property assessments. They anticipate submitting more than 40,000 signatures to the County Clerk in early September, which would under the county's charter, force the Democratic majority, led by N.C. Leg. Judy Jacobs, to schedule the proposal for a hearing, the first step in the process of moving it into law. "I understand that there are concerns from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and the Republicans are more than ready and willing to address those concerns and have a full airing of the issues," said N.C. Leg. Peter Schmitt who raised the proposal. "But to date the Democrats have refused to allow that to happen, and we think that is simply unacceptable. The public has a right to hear all sides of this important issue." Republicans said the plan would maintain the status quo until the real estate market has a chance to "right itself" and force government at all levels to provide a transparent process for any tax increases they may want to impose. They point to the roller-coaster ride some residents have experienced under reassessment, which, in some cases, has driven up taxes by as much as 300 percent. Democrats called the plan nothing more than a political ploy by Republicans who would send Nassau back into the archaic assessment system that the New York State Supreme Court ruled as inequitable. That decision forced the county to reassess all real property, including 368,000 resident properties, at full fair market value, and to publish a new assessment roll by January 1, 2003. "This is a very poorly thought out plan that does not help taxpayers in terms of the tax rate," said Legislature's Majority Leader Judy Jacobs. "Freezing reassessment will create an inequitable assessment system like the one we faced before we began to address the problem," said Jacobs. "This will bring us back to the Gulotta days when the system was broken and those running the county put their heads in the sand for 60 years." Harvey Levinson, the County Assessor agreed. "When one steps back from the politics being played with the issue to deflect taxpayer outrage for soaring budgets and high property taxes, you cannot hide the facts," he said. "Even if reassessment did not take place, the property tax burdens imposed on homeowners by school districts and the other nearly 400 taxing jurisdictions in Nassau would have increases each year. Under the proposal, which Schmitt and the Republicans presented in March, the county would freeze residential assessments-those values placed on real property upon which tax levies are assessed. However, over the next five years, the county would continue to conduct its property reassessments, but would hold off on any increases for five years. After the five years, the increases would be gradually applied. Any reductions in assessments, as determined by the county over those first five years, would be immediately applied, under the proposed law. N.C. Leg. Dave Mejias, (D-14th District) did not return phone calls for his comments on the plan. However, his Republican opponetn, Joseph Belesi said he supports it 100 percent. "It's the only logical step at this time," said Belesi. "There are 751 houses for sale in my district. People are leaving and we have to stop it. There's no affordable housing here and Schmitt's proposal is step in the right direction." Democrat John Rennhack, Schmitt's opponent in November, called the proposal "a gimmick." "A property tax assessment freeze will do nothing to reduce property taxes," said Rennhack, who added that Schmitt would do better to use his position as a platform to pressure school districts to reduce taxes. Saying the opponents have it wrong, Schmitt said this proposal would not only ensure that the county's reassessment program moves forward but also protect residents from manipulation of the fractional assessment rate, the percentage of adjusted fair market value at which properties are assessed. This resulted in the county's ability to significantly raise taxes indirectly over several years, without public hearings and holding those entities. It also enabled the county to circumvent the New York State real property tax law that sets a cap on increases of 6 percent a year, a move that was upheld by the courts in February 2007. The plan calls for maintaining the current fractional assessment rate at .25 percent. It has previously been set at 1 and .5 percent. "There are too many times when residents are told their taxes are going to go up 5 percent and then lo and behold they get their tax bill and they went up 10 or 15 percent because the fractional assessment rate was changed," said Schmitt. "This assessment freeze will ensure that this does not happen and that residents will be able to make intelligent decisions and plan for their futures based on truthful and accurate information. More important, it will hold public officials accountable for any tax increases. " In addition, the plan would give the county time to climb out from under the thousands of grievances that have been filed against it, said supporters.
The plan has received a decision by the legislature's independent business office, which called it "revenue neutral."
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