Legislator: County’s assessment system is broken

Many Bellmore and Merrick residents have yet to receive their homes’ assessed values from Nassau County. That’s just one of the problems that Nassau County Legislator Dave Denenberg has with the county’s assessment system.

Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, was joined at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon by Legislator Wayne Wink, a Democrat from Roslyn, as well as local residents who had problems with their assessments.

Denenberg and Wink criticized County Executive Edward Mangano’s assessment reform plan and explained a proposed law that they penned last April. The legislators called on the county to provide more information to residents about their homes’ assesssments and to sharpen the timing of when assessments are mailed out. Residents must file their grievances with the county by March 1, and many have yet to receive the assessments they need to do so.

Both Denenberg and Wink said they were outraged by the county’s handling of its assessments. “Rather than reform, we’ve gotten regression,” Denenberg said.

Edward Raboy, of North Bellmore, discussed his experiences with the county Department of Assessment. Raboy has challenged his assessment for the past three years, “and I’m three for three,” successfully challenging it each time, he said. But Raboy has yet to see the changes reflected in his assessment. Denenberg noted that Raboy is not the only resident to encounter such a problem. The proposed law would require assessments to reflect grievances won in the previous year.

In a press release, Brian Nevin, senior policy adviser and communications director for Mangano, said that the Department of Assessment “is working to ensure the tax roll includes updates on grievances for the first time in Nassau County history. Residents were asked to notify the department if this was not the case.”