By Tom Jordan
Many people were shocked when they opened their tax bill and found that the county had nailed them with a hefty hike of 22 to 25 percent, not the 8.9 percent promised to average households.
Bills obtained by the Herald show a 100-percent increase in general-purposes taxes and a 55 percent rise in sewage-disposal taxes. The general-purpose tax climbed to 3.8 cents per $100 of assessed value from 1.9 cents last year. Sewage-disposal taxes increased from 2.519 cents per $100 last year to 3.904 this year. To calculate your tax, the tax rate is multiplied by the assessed taxable value of your home.
"There wasn't even any warning," said Gold, of Eton Road, who also wondered why the parks and recreation levy for which he was taxed 94 cents per $100 assessed value last year was not evident on his current bill. "It's either missing or buried. Maybe they'll try to sneak that in later."
Actually, said John Zaher, a spokesperson for County Executive Tom Gulotta, the parks and recreation tax has been folded into the general-purposes levy, which partly explains the steep rise in that tax.
Greenfield, who lives on Huber Court, also was curious about how the numbers came out the way they did and went right to the top with his query. In a letter to Gulotta, he wrote: "Please attempt to educate me regarding this startling tax increase."
Zaher told the Herald that "Since the Independent Budget Review Office determined that the average taxpayer would see an adjustment of 8.9 percent, we will have to research with the County Assessor's office to determine why these taxpayers experienced a larger increase."
"People in Rockville Centre have to be aware of this, because we're being lied to," said Flo Zaccaria of Richmond Road. "They talked about an 8 or 9 percent increase and then raised taxes 25 percent. It's exorbitant."
Rockville Centre Mayor Eugene Murray also expressed displeasure. He called the increase "taxation without representation." He went on to say, "We don't know why the Sanitation 2 tax increased by 55 percent. The county has done that before without any explanation whatsoever. It's very upsetting. I've been working on the problem and I would encourage Village residents to contact Legislator Scannell."
In a publication his office released this week called "The State of the County," Gulotta continued to say he vetoed legislative proposals that would have created a 15.4 percent tax hike in favor of a proposal of his that would raise taxes "8.9 percent for the average household."
A spokesperson from County Leg. Joseph Scannell's office said that the Legislature passed only an 8.9 percent increase and that much of the additional increase is the result of the sewage disposal tax, which is not voted on by the Legislature.
"The county sewage disposal tax is not in the hands of the Legislature in any way," the spokesperson said. "The tax rate goes up or down depending on the level of usage in the county. Residents might be seeing a 21 or 22 percent increase, but the majority of that is coming from the sewer tax. It's a separate entity."
The spokesperson also said that the steep increase is particular to Rockville Centre.
But even without factoring the sewer tax, the overall increase for some adds up to more than 8.9 percent. Gold saw a 12 percent rise from last year and Greenfield's taxes rose 16 percent.
The spokesperson from Scannell's office said that in Greenfield's case the tax increase exceeded 8.9 percent because his taxable value went up from last year because he made improvements to his bathroom.
Angela Marshall contributed to this story.
