By Jeff Lipton
A recent report on the tax assessment project by Harvey B. Levinson, appointed by Suozzi as a special assistant to investigate the fairness and accuracy of the assessments, found serious flaws in the process. Lawrence was singled out as one of six neighborhoods in the county where expensive homes were significantly under-assessed. The other communities listed were Garden City, Great Neck, Jericho, Manhasset and Port Washington.
In these communities, Levinson determined that unique homes and estate properties were under-assessed by comparing a study of 2001 home sales with the market value assessed by the county Department of Assessment's contractor, the Cole Layer Trumble Company. The study examined sales of properties selling for $1 million or more in 2001 through May 2002. Lawrence had 12 sales totaling $17,025,000, but the county's assessment put the value of these properties at $14,836,600, showing that they were under-assessed by nearly 15 percent. From these under-assessments, the county lost $2,188,400 from its tax rolls, which would have to be made up by less wealthy neighbors, Levinson said.
One home in Lawrence, which was sold in February 2002 for $1.3 million, was assessed at $803,600, the Levinson report said. Another, which sold for $1.5 million in October 2001, was under-assessed by $455,900. Two months later, a home that sold for $1.85 million was under-assessed by $644,900.
A member of the Board of Assessors had reportedly complained that many homes on the waterfront were grossly under-assessed while some neighboring properties were over-assessed, Levinson said. Near the end of the reassessment project, the county contractor reluctantly agreed to take another look at the waterfront parcels, discovered that the board member's complaint was valid and then raised assessed values on more than 300 waterfront parcels in southeastern Nassau County.
Levinson said the Department of Assessment failed to request permission to enter properties to view buildings from the outside or to view their interiors, but rather assumed that the homes' interior conditions were consistent with their exteriors.
The failure of Mr. O'Shea to write to owners of all properties Ñ but especially large estates where the exterior could not be seen from the road Ñ to seek permission to do a comprehensive exterior inspection, and for some, an in-house inspection, may have caused under-valuation of luxury property, Levinson said.
In a terse response to the Levinson report, O'Shea accused Levinson of having no background in the mass appraisal industry, with no related experience or education. Nothing in his background indicates that he has any qualifications to analyze the results of this project, O'Shea said.
I find it unfathomable that someone with no background, experience or education can generate an investigation in less than 39 days that accurately and fairly assesses the job that I have performed, especially when he had very little contact with either the county's reassessment consultant, the Cole Layer Trumble Company, or myself, said O'Shea. While the reassessment provides property owners with accuracy and fairness, Mr. Levinson's report fails to provide me with the same accuracy and fairness.
O'Shea called Levinson's report politically biased, since published reports named Levinson a front-runner in the Democratic Party to challenge O'Shea, a Republican, in his re-election bid this November. Thus, his objectivity as an independent investigator was already compromised before he even began his investigation, O'Shea said.
David Chauvin, a spokesperson for Suozzi, said, We're pleased with Harvey Levinson's work. He's pointed out several major inequities, which we brought before County Assessor Charles O'Shea to take into consideration as he moves forward with the reassessment process. It is not easy to correct 60 years of problems. We urge taxpayers to continue to be patient.
A revaluation of the county's assessment roll was undertaken in March 2000 after complaints were raised that Nassau had used the same outdated assessments since the 1930s, which was deemed unfair and left the county on the hook for large tax certiorari refunds. The reassessment was a court-monitored settlement with minority homeowners who said the taxation system unfairly discriminated against them and favored the rich. The county Board of Assessors then hired the contractor, Cole Layer Trumble, under the direction of O'Shea, in May 2000 to work on the revaluation of county property.
Suozzi, who has said that an accurate revaluation is crucial to the county's future fiscal health, received letters, e-mails and calls from hundreds of residents expressing concerns about the reassessment. As a result, Suozzi appointed Levinson, a former chief assistant district attorney in Nassau County, to make sure the assessments were fair and accurate. In his report, dated Dec. 30, 2002, Levinson outlined a litany of flaws with the revaluation process, which, he said, had raised the tax bills for many who should not have seen such an increase.
The reassessment project cost about $34 million.
By a vote of 3-2 on Dec. 30, the Board of Assessors approved the revaluation of the county's 416,000 commercial and residential properties. Residents will be able to challenge the assessments of their property during a grievance period, which runs through March 3.
The January 2003 county/town tax bills are not affected by the new property values. The first tax bill affected by these new assessed values would be the October 2003 school tax bill. The first county and town tax bill will be mailed to homeowners in January 2004.
Mary Haves Cooper, a broker/owner at Morton Haves realty in Hewlett, said the county is going about the process the wrong way. She said the county should follow the property assessment system in California, which charges homeowners a tax of 1 percent of what they paid for the house. Thus, a house bought for $1.5 million would cost $15,000 in taxes. She said that one of her brokers, who owns a teensy house in Lawrence, was over-assessed for her property.
Ernest Weinrib, owner of Ernest Realty in Woodmere, said the process has become a political football. He said assessing a house based on its market value was the clearest and easiest way to establish what a home is worth.
