|
|
|
|
|
|
During the past few months during which the public has weighed the impact of the county's reassessment program, several critical issues have emerged with regard to the legality of the entire program as well as its soundness, accuracy and fairness. They are as follows: 1. Section 1805 of the New York State Real Property Tax Law prohibits increases in homeowners' property assessments by more than six percent annually or 20 percent in five years. This law is intended to protect the public from runaway tax assessments. However, Nassau County is attempting to circumvent that statutory limit by creating an artificially low "taxable value" of the property. This is done by taking 1 percent of the new full market valuation and calling that lowered number the assessed value. That is why the assessment letter from CLT actually shows a reduction in assessed value as compared to last year, in many cases. Of course, the tax rate that is applied to the lowered figure is much higher than it would have been had full market value been used to obtain the desired tax revenues. 2. Our present property tax bills indicate that taxable or assessed value is around 2.5 percent of the presently in effect full market valuation. If the county compared the new full market valuations with the old full market valuations, or compared the same 2.5 percent of both the new valuations and the old valuations, the increases in both cases are vastly in excess of 6 percent. By reducing the assessment ratio from 2.5 percent to 1 percent, the county is engaging in an arithmetic sleight-of-hand that may not withstand a challenge in a court of law. 3. Property owners who consulted with CLT discovered in a great many cases that their homes were compared for purposes of valuation with property far from their own neighborhoods, in vastly more expensive areas. Many observers, including county officials, agree that CLT's initial valuations are grossly misvalued in many cases. According to county officials, CLT is in the process of mailing out corrections in a number of cases. 4. The revaluation considers property values only at one point in time. This could be very inaccurate and unfair. Real estate values currently are inflated, just as stock market values were recently before they came crashing down. Many observers believe we are at the peak of a real estate bubble, which is the result of abnormally low interest rates and a flight from the stock market. This situation is likely to reverse in coming years, as the economy recovers and interest rates rise. The county does not seem to have a workable plan as to how the new full market valuations would be updated. It would seem reasonable to adopt some form of averaging. 5. At a public hearing held by Nassau County officials on Dec. 1, 2002, resident after resident explained how their properties were grossly misvalued because of data errors committed by CLT, as well as by out-of-neighborhood comparisons with more expensive homes and properties. Many of these participants foresaw that they will have to sell out and go elsewhere. It was ironic that almost all the participants from the public seemed to come from exactly those low-income communities in Nassau County that reassessment was supposed to help by redistributing their property tax burden. Instead, what they got is a substantially higher tax burden. Many members of the public requested county officials to ask the court to grant a delay, rather than implement the new tax assessment rolls on Dec. 31. The delay would permit the county to correct the severe distortions in the new full market valuations and the State Legislature to pass legislation that is needed to correct various other inequities and hardships that have come to light. 6. Because CLT violated one of the most basic principles of real estate valuation, namely that location is the most important factor, that company's work lacks credibility. The result is a very large number of misclassifications and overvaluations of homeowners' properties. (The chairman of the Assessment Review Commission is anticipating 100,000 grievance applications or 25 percent of all properties that were revalued.) From anecdotal evidence, it appears likely that the proposed new tax burdens will be very regressive, that is, heaviest on low income individuals and families. Members of the public who are not happy with the new revaluation of their homes and/or believe the county's reassessment program is badly flawed can take several steps to make known their views and to protect their interests. You can write to County Executive Tom Suozzi, 1 West Street, Mineola, NY 11501. You can file an application for a reduced assessment with the Assessment Review Commission. Application forms will be available early in January 2003 at the County Assessors Office, 240 Old Country Road, Mineola. The forms must be filed by early March 2003. The Review Commission is planning a simplified procedure so that private individuals can file the form, but you can still use an attorney to do it for you. Keep in mind, that with 100,000 grievances expected to be filed, you shouldn't expect an early resolution of your problem. I believe an important issue is the county's possible violation of Section 1805 of the New York State Real Property Tax Law. As reported in Newsday recently, an attorney by the name of Daniel J. Dillon, who is associated with the law firm of Harry Issler, 110 East 59th Street, 29th Floor, New York, NY 10022, is planning to file a lawsuit to compel the county to comply with Section 1805. All members of the public are invited to join the lawsuit for a modest fee. If the lawsuit is successful, it will have an important effect in easing the burden of any reassessment plan that eventually goes into effect. The State Legislature probably would review Section 1805, and possibly raise the present statutory limit somewhat, to allow reasonable phasing in of any new real estate taxes, instead of the cold turkey impact that Nassau County is presently contemplating. |
|
|
How to Challenge the Tax Assessment of Property in Nassau County Nassau
County Property Records Search Search Long Island Real Estate Sales
How to challenge your
assessment
Last modified: April 18, 2004 05:10:25 PM
"Lawmakers heard complaints from a Levittown homeowner whose house "This truly is the perfect financial storm," said Erie County schools Superintendent James Barker when speaking about the work done by Cole Layer & Trumble. AS Newsday made clear, Cole Layer & Trumble really messed up. Its a shame they didn't get it right the first time out, and resisted all efforts to correct itself, because then the people who will see tax increase would have had the opportunity to review their methodology and their valuation. - J.G. For its part, Cole Layer Trumble admits that in reassessing more than 400,000 properties, an error rate of about 10 percent occurred. That's over 40,000 properties that were incorrectly valued during reassessment. Bruce Nagel, Cole Layer Trumble's chief executive officer, said, "These measures [the assessments] are based on statistics. That doesn't mean there aren't mistakes." What the hell does that double negative mean Bruce? "Many people's taxes will be going up, and I think there is a large concern that the system was flawed,'' said Harvey Levinson, the county executive's special assistant for reassessment. "There are a lot of angry people out there!" Cole Layer Trumble was given a stern warning by Tom Suozzi last month. Telling them to, “Shape Up,” and correct mistakes that would cost taxpayers millions of dollars, Suozzi noted that those effected should take every means necessary to correct errors and contest over-taxation. Stopping short of admitting the re-val was flawed, the County Executive did admit that early warnings of problems with CLTs methodology were probably true. Visomirski said of the 500 homes he has looked at in Shaler and the surrounding area, about 180 or 36 % have some kind of description error. "And I'm just in a little area up here. Imagine what that must be throughout the county," he said. "The little guy gets screwed again -- can they afford a lawyer for their claim?" Lake County Assessor Paul Karras said. "The whole thing stunk right from the beginning." Last year, Christensen and a group of other taxpayers filed an Article 78 lawsuit against the city, alledging an arbitrary and capricious assessment which targeted newcomers and poor people. The city, and consultant firm Cole-Layer-Trumble, who performed the reevaluation, have denied the charges. The suit remains in court. Lee Acquista, the Erie County Assessment Board's lawyer said the board will meet "behind closed doors under a provision to the state Sunshine Act" that he said allows for private discussions about changes to policy. This practice seems to be the norm for Cole Layer & Trumble. Meeting behind closed doors with county assessors while hiding behind the "Sunshine Act". What is Cole Layer & Trumble Hiding from us?
This website is not affiliated with or associated to the Cole Layer Trumble
company. Yahoo! Buzz Index Overall Leaders 1. Britney Spears 2. Usher 3. The Masters 4. Internal Revenue Service 5. Jennifer Lopez 6. Jessica Simpson 7. Eminem 8. The Passion of the Christ 9. Beyonce Knowles 10. Elisha Cuthbert 11. Janet Jackson 12. Kazaa 13. Phil Mickelson 14. Angelina Jolie 15. OutKast Yahoo! Buzz Index Overall Movers 1. Jenna Bush 2. Phil Mickelson 3. The Bible Code 4. Stanley Williams 5. Wild Bill Hickok 6. The Fifth Element 7. Sarah Marbeck 8. Bobby Jones 9. Billy Madison 10. Happy Gilmore 11. The Patriot 12. Princess Haya 13. Calamity Jane 14. Dune 15. Big Daddy Yahoo! Buzz Index Television Leaders 1. American Idol 2. The Apprentice 3. Dragon Ball Z 4. Dateline 5. Yu-Gi-Oh! 6. Friends 7. The Simpsons 8. Charmed 9. Survivor All-Stars 10. Sponge Bob Square Pants 11. The O.C. 12. Days of Our Lives 13. Saturday Night Live 14. Alias 15. Trading Spaces Yahoo! Buzz Index Television Movers 1. Meet the Press 2. The Practice 3. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 4. Trading Spaces 5. Joel Osteen 6. High School Reunion 7. Deadwood 8. Nick and Jessica 9. 60 Minutes 10. Alias 11. Band of Brothers 12. Arrested Development 13. Brini Maxwell 14. Ty Pennington 15. Trailer Park Boys Yahoo! Buzz Index Music Leaders 1. Britney Spears 2. Usher 3. Jessica Simpson 4. Eminem 5. Beyonce Knowles 6. Janet Jackson 7. OutKast 8. Christina Aguilera 9. Weird Al Yankovic 10. Linkin Park 11. D-12 12. William Hung 13. Blink 182 14. 50 Cent 15. Eamon Yahoo! Buzz Index Music Movers 1. Weird Al Yankovic 2. Lisa Marie Presley 3. TLC 4. Billie Holiday 5. The Monkees 6. Jewel Lyrics 7. Take That 8. Trent Reznor 9. Nancy Ajram 10. Bob Dylan 11. Raz-B 12. LaToya Jackson 13. John Frusciante 14. The Faint 15. Dir En Grey Yahoo! Buzz Index Sports Leaders 1. The Masters 2. Phil Mickelson 3. NBA 4. NASCAR 5. David Beckham 6. MLB 7. PGA 8. Chicago Cubs 9. 2004 NFL Draft 10. NHL 11. NFL 12. New York Yankees 13. Detroit Tigers 14. Boston Red Sox 15. St. Louis Cardinals Yahoo! Buzz Index Sports Movers 1. Phil Mickelson 2. Bobby Jones 3. Wladimir Klitschko 4. Michael Waltrip 5. Michelle Wie 6. Lamon Brewster 7. Montreal Canadiens 8. Arsenal FC 9. New York Knicks 10. Supercross 11. Nashville Predators 12. Inter Milan 13. Jackie Robinson 14. Arena Football League 15. U.S. Open Yahoo! Buzz Index Actors and Actresses Leaders 1. Jennifer Lopez 2. Elisha Cuthbert 3. Angelina Jolie 4. Hilary Duff 5. Pamela Anderson 6. Carmen Electra 7. Orlando Bloom 8. Monica Bellucci 9. Johnny Depp 10. Mel Gibson 11. Lindsay Lohan 12. Mandy Moore 13. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen 14. Jessica Alba 15. The Rock Yahoo! Buzz Index Actors and Actresses Movers 1. Bridgette Wilson 2. Milla Jovovich 3. Portia de Rossi 4. Tina Fey 5. Gary Oldman 6. Drake Bell 7. Michael Vartan 8. Susan Ward 9. Christy Romano 10. Elisabeth Shue 11. Michelle Rodriguez 12. Goldie Hawn 13. Jamie Foxx 14. Taye Diggs 15. Claire Forlani Yahoo! Buzz Index Movies Leaders 1. The Passion of the Christ 2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 3. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4. Spider-Man 2 5. Spider-Man 6. Kill Bill 7. Hellboy 8. Lord of the Rings 9. The Punisher 10. The Alamo 11. The Matrix 12. Star Wars 13. Van Helsing 14. Scooby-Doo 15. Batman Begins Yahoo! Buzz Index Video Games Leaders 1. Pokemon 2. Gunbound 3. Final Fantasy 4. The Sims 5. NBA Ballers 6. Resident Evil 7. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 8. Ragnarok Online 9. Final Fantasy 11 10. Halo 2 11. Manhunt 12. Halo 13. Everquest 14. Lineage II 15. Final Fantasy X-2 Yahoo! Buzz Index Networks Leaders 1. Cartoon Network 2. ESPN 3. Nickelodeon 4. Disney Channel 5. BBC 6. Food Network 7. CNN 8. Al Jazeera 9. MTV 10. CBS 11. Weather Channel 12. TLC 13. QVC 14. PBS 15. Univision Yahoo! Buzz Index Baseball Leaders 1. Chicago Cubs 2. New York Yankees 3. Detroit Tigers 4. Boston Red Sox 5. St. Louis Cardinals 6. Cincinnati Reds 7. Houston Astros 8. Baltimore Orioles 9. Atlanta Braves 10. New York Mets 11. Texas Rangers 12. San Francisco Giants 13. Los Angeles Dodgers 14. San Diego Padres 15. Minnesota Twins Yahoo! Buzz Index Basketball Leaders 1. Los Angeles Lakers 2. San Antonio Spurs 3. Sacramento Kings 4. Dallas Mavericks 5. Detroit Pistons 6. New York Knicks 7. Denver Nuggets 8. Houston Rockets 9. Chicago Bulls 10. Boston Celtics 11. Golden State Warriors 12. Minnesota Timberwolves 13. Utah Jazz 14. Indiana Pacers 15. New Jersey Nets Yahoo! Buzz Index Football Leaders 1. Dallas Cowboys 2. Oakland Raiders 3. Minnesota Vikings 4. Green Bay Packers 5. Chicago Bears 6. Cincinnati Bengals 7. Detroit Lions 8. Pittsburgh Steelers 9. New York Giants 10. Miami Dolphins 11. New York Jets 12. Denver Broncos 13. Cleveland Browns 14. Washington Redskins 15. Philadelphia Eagles Yahoo! Buzz Index Hockey Leaders 1. Detroit Red Wings 2. Toronto Maple Leafs 3. Boston Bruins 4. Colorado Avalanche 5. Montreal Canadiens 6. Nashville Predators 7. Dallas Stars 8. Vancouver Canucks 9. Ottawa Senators 10. San Jose Sharks 11. Philadelphia Flyers 12. Calgary Flames 13. St. Louis Blues 14. New Jersey Devils 15. Tampa Bay Lightning p op www.william-hung.orgwww.enude.org
This website is not affiliated with or associated to the Cole Layer Trumble
company. |
 |
