New civic group debuts in Valley Stream

Valley Stream’s newest civic group held its first meeting last week, focusing on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood maps and their effect on property values.

About two dozen residents turned out at Central High School for the inaugural meeting of the Valley Stream Community Association on Nov. 29. The group’s president is Carol Crupi. Serving on the board of directors are Joseph Margolin and Dena Biondo. The association is open to those who live in or outside the village. “It’s not for one section,” Crupi explained.

The organization is now the only active civic association based in the village. Crupi said that dues would be $20 per year per household. “We want to work together to make Valley Stream a better place than it already is,” she said.

Crupi and Margolin both ran unsuccessfully for village board last March.

At the meeting, the group heard from property tax experts Loren Schindler and Ann-Margaret Bonventure of RSB Property Tax Consultants of Valley Stream. They encouraged residents to challenge their home assessments in an effort to reduce their property taxes.

Schindler explained that property tax increases have outpaced the rate of inflation in the past few years in Nassau County, and the average tax bill for a homeowner is nearly $8,500 a year. “Some of you may be paying more for your annual property taxes than you did for your home in the first place,” she said.

Residents who challenge their assessments are likely to get a reduction, Schindler explained. A lower home value likely means lower taxes. She also noted that Nassau County’s new, untested assessment method is flawed, according to a draft audit by the county comptroller. That has left the assessment rolls riddled with inaccuracies, she said. Those who don’t challenge their assessments, she added, usually pick up the tab for the property owners who receive reductions.

Bonventure said that residents who are in FEMA’s high-risk flood zone should say so when challenging their assessment. The annual insurance premium, she said, is a deterrent for people looking to buy a home and negatively affects a property’s value.

Margolin discussed an “NBC Nightly News” segment, the “Fleecing of America” which focused on a Southern California community that successfully fought its way out of a high-risk flood zone. Valley Stream residents have been trying to do just that for the past two years, so far without success.

Margolin said he agreed that the flood zone designation negatively affects home values. However, he said, the village and county are not taking that into account, so assessments in those neighborhoods are too high. “I don’t believe any of their assessments, with regard to the flood zone, can be correct if their criteria doesn’t include that,” he said.

Margolin, a retired attorney, described himself as a “test case,” saying he would challenge his assessment in small-claims court based on his home’s inclusion in the flood zone.

So far, legislation in the House of Representatives and Senate that would give Valley Stream homeowners some relief has stalled. A bill sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer would require FEMA to redraw its Nassau County maps. Margolin said that unless a bill passes, the clock is ticking for Valley Stream homeowners, who will be subjected to higher flood insurance rates again in 2013 when a two-year reduced-rate program runs out.

Biondo said that everyone in the flood zone should file a tax challenge. That is the way to get government officials to listen. “Money talks,” she said. “They don’t want to lose the tax revenue.”

Crupi encouraged residents to call, email and write letters to their federal representatives. She said they should contact officials repeatedly to show them that they mean business. “If we make our voices heard, we may just get somewhere,” she said. “We have to let these politicians know that we want this changed and we want this changed now.”

The next Community Association meeting will be held in January. Biondo said that the speaker would be a geomatic engineer who would discuss why, based on geographic data, Valley Stream does not belong in the flood zone.