By Scott Brinton
Nassau County now is caught up amid a quiet revolution that, when all is said and done, will make about one-third of residents happy, one-third annoyed, perhaps even angry, and one-third likely won't worry much about the end result.
We're talking about the county's three-year effort to reassess all of its 415,000 residential and commercial properties a project last undertaken so broadly six decades ago.
Reassessment? What's that all about, you might ask.
The answer is at once simple, yet highly complex. Properties are being photographed and examined by appraisal experts from Mineola-based Cole, Layer and Trumble to determine their current market value. Property taxes will then be recalculated according to today's real-estate prices. The process, which gets under way in earnest this year and is scheduled for completion in 2003, is tedious and monumental.
For years, folks have talked about revamping Nassau County's antiquated property-tax system. Until reassessment is complete, the county will continue to assess homes according to 1938 building costs, with 1964 land values added in.
Estimates are that, after reassessment, about 33 percent of properties in Nassau will see higher county tax bills, 33 percent lower, and 33 percent will remain the same.
Who will see their taxes go up or down or stay level is to be determined. Assumptions can be made, though. Many in wealthier communities will likely find that their county property taxes have risen. Many in poorer areas will likely find their taxes reduced.
Real-estate experts say that, as a general rule, solidly middle-class communities will be least affected by reassessment. Jay Helsinger is owner of Custom South Shore Real Estate in Merrick and Long Beach, two middle-income communities where most home prices range from $200,000 to $400,000. Nobody seems overly concerned, said Helsinger. I think realtors would rather see it the new way [than] the old. Every house is going to be based on its true value today.
As long as [residents] are not paying more than their neighbor, as long as they're paying as much as everybody else, they're going to be happy.
Critics of reassessment charge that it's expensive for a county suffering through a fiscal crisis $43 million expensive.
And in the end, they say, the best that any appraiser can do is estimate a property's current worth, meaning mistakes in assessments and appeals by homeowners are inevitable. Richard Libbey, a real-estate developer whose grandfather built much of Atlantic Beach during the 1920s, said, [Appraisers] make assumptions. Assumptions usually lead to errors.
Libbey also said the county would have to continually reassess to keep its tax rolls current, as real-estate values fluctuate annually. I could see myself going to fight the valuation of my assessment every year, he said.
I don't see the government coming down [in their assessment] if the market goes down.
Nassau Assessor Charles O'Shea (R-North Merrick) said the county intends
