By Howard Goldstein
Jeff Gold, a Democrat of Bellmore and member of the Nassau County Board of Assessors, is alleging that Cole Layer Trumble, the assessment company hired by the county to conduct the reappraisals, has grossly undervalued waterfront property.
According to Gold, the model used by CLT was inadequate for accurately accessing waterfront property.
Gold says that CLT used inland sale prices to help set the waterfront values, which was acknowledged by county reassessment consultant James Culver. Too few sales in waterfront neighborhoods during the 1999-2001 period that CLT developed its computer model resulted in the company using some inland values.
Gold said that he is concerned with fairness.
"If waterfront property is underassessed, than that means inland properties are overassessed," he said.
"This means a tax increase for residents with lower value homes to make up the tax differential. There is no reason why inland residents should pay another $75 to $200 in taxes because the waterfront was not assessed correctly," said Gold.
Gold took his position on the Board of Assessors, along with Gerard Terry, Dennis Brown and James MacCrate, in February. Republican Charles O'Shea, of North Merrick, chairs the board. The former board, O'Shea said, required CLT to have set values before January 2002.
"Cole Layer Trumble had visited all the properties, photographed all the properties and fully developed its computer model before the new board came into existence," Gold said, "and when we tried to figure out what was going on with home values, Culver and CLT denied us access until July, on the grounds of being too busy finalizing figures and facts."
Gold has characterized O'Shea as an "apologist for CLT" and claims that the Board of Assessors chairman has avoided or blocked all attempts to rectify the problem.
"I think O'Shea does not want to be thought of as the person who raised taxes on the waterfront," said Gold.
Charles O'Shea scoffs at the implication that hiring CLT was somehow covert or poorly thought out.
"Cole Layer Trumble was unanimously agreed on by the Democratic Legislature, as was the whole reassessment project, as was the final contract with CLT," O'Shea said.
"When the county decided to hire a reassessment company, two firms placed bids, Cole Layer Trumble and Manitron Saber. Manitron Saber just failed in a reassessment of Rockland County so badly, that county has asked CLT to accurately assess Rockland after they are finished in Nassau. CLT is regarded as the best mass appraisal company. We had only these two companies make offers...Does Gold think we made the wrong choice?" he asked.
A public meeting held by Leg. Dave Denenberg (D-Merrick) in July of 2002 about the reassessment drew more than 350 people.
Gold, who was a main speaker at the meeting, noted that several residents who owned properties on tiny canals reported appraisals as high or higher than larger houses on the open bay.
"We know of houses that are technically not on the water, just near the waterfront, that were appraised for higher than homes on prime waterfront real estate," said Gold.
Gold cites some cases of waterfront homes appraised for less than they sold for.
One home on Glen Drive sold for $790,000 in 1999 and was assessed at $700,000 in 2002; another on Glen Drive sold for $884,000 in 2001 and was assessed for $756,000 in 2002.
A Jason Court home was assessed at $1.54 million, while a larger bay house five parcels away was assessed at $550,000. A house on Lee Place that sold for $800,000 in 2000 and was assessed at $584,400. Two Judith Drive properties sold for $685,000 and $772,000 respectively, and were assessed at $481,000 and $605,000.
Gold believes that such inaccuracies are widespread, with possibly hundreds of waterfront houses underassessed.
O'Shea has a different view.
"CLT was hired to accurately and fairly assess Nassau County. There are 416,000 parcels of property in Nassau County, and CLT was given 30 months to assess them all -- a mammoth undertaking.
"The assessment contract calls for 90-percent accuracy. Yes, CLT made some mistakes. But when the pool is this large, 416,000 parcels, 10-percent errors -- which are expected in any assessment --seem like a lot of homes, but not when compared to the 90 percent that were assessed perfectly. Jeff has been going on about the same 20 parcels since July, but he has no evidence at all of widespread underassessment," he said.
Gold said that "if CLT could assess $800,000 homes for $500,000, the whole process is inaccurate."
O'Shea also said that miscalculations were factored into the process, with an appeals system put in place for just that reason.
According to O'Shea, more than 31,000 homeowners have registered complaints with CLT, which is trying to address the problems.
"The Web site that lists the values will be updated Dec. 13. It's very likely that Cole Layer Trumble has already changed a lot of values," he said.
Cole Layer Trumble has stood behind its numbers in past months, but stated on Nov. 15 that the company would change the values of 350 waterfront properties after reinspecting them. Some of these land values might be raised as much as 25 percent, while small homeowners on narrow canals might receive downward adjustments.
