Nassau needs an assessment commission

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How does the county plan to make up the difference? Through borrowing –– as it has for years. The Nassau Interim Finance Authority has reportedly stated, however, that it will not approve borrowing unless the county cuts at least $30 million from its budget.

What the county has paid out tells only part of the story. Nassau has accrued a backlog of more than $400 million in assessment payouts –– which could grow to $450 million by year’s end. Many unpaid judgments date back as long as three years, with no clear indication of how they will be settled. All the while, interest continues to rack up on money property owners are owed.

Desperate times, they say, require desperate measures. In attempting to repeal the guaranty without much debate in 2010, Mangano and the GOP-led Legislature demonstrated that that maxim isn’t always true. Now is the time for a reasoned approach to fixing the assessment system, beginning with a bipartisan commission.

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