By Anthony Rifilato
He brought the dirt because he lives on Parkway Drive along a canal that is essentially useless, because it needs to be dredged and there is rarely any water in it. It's mostly dirt, but nevertheless, his home was reassessed for $460,000 and his taxes went up from $7,000 last year to over $10,000.
"If you're going to be reassessed for something, you should be able to use it," said Gallo.
Although the pail of dirt won Gallo a $200 reduction on his reassessment, Gallo, like many Baldwin residents, was in for another shock earlier this month when he received his school tax bill after the first county property reassessments in more than 60 years. He now pays $3,000 more in school taxes.
"Where do you get $3,000 more a year?" said Gallo, who added that 20 percent of his salary goes to taxes.
Gallo said many of his neighbors were hit with increases as well, and although taxes have gone down for some, Gallo and others said the latest bills are an indicator of the high cost of living in Nassau County.
"We're just used to it," said Baldwin Harbor resident Sandy Camenzuli, who also lives along Grand Canal and saw her school taxes go up to $7,500, though she received a $277 tax refund. "The school taxes are what's running everyone out of Long Island."
Coupled with Baldwin residents' stress over the county's 19.4 percent property tax increase and the school tax hikes is misinformation they received on their bills, which said that the board of education is responsible for setting the tax rate.
The board doesn't set the tax rate but does set the tax levy, which was $61.2 million this year, which was approved by voters in June and reflects a 6.2 percent increase in from last year. Needless to say, the misinformation has Assistant Superintendent for Business and Administrative Services Edward Cigna fielding more calls than usual.
"There are a lot of confused residents," said Cigna. "Many residents don't understand and the information they received on their tax bills didn't help."
Cigna said he is trying to help residents understand changes in their tax bills, and said that while some were upset with the tax hikes, most were respectful when told about the error.
Cigna said one resident even called him and said that their property reassessment was lowered, and demanded a refund from the school district. "I said, wait a minute," Cigna said. "We're trying to help our community understand."
According to Cigna, about one-third of Baldwin resident's taxes went up from last year, one-third went down, and one-third stayed the same. Because Baldwin has very little commercial property, Cigna said that a majority of school taxes, $48 million, was picked up by single- family homeowners while the rest is paid for by other properties.
Bills that went up indicate that those properties had been under-assessed for years. "Unfortunately, people did not know before what their home was worth in the eyes of the county," said Cigna. "Some people are saying, 'That's not what my house is worth.' It is a tremendous increase in taxes."
Baldwin resident Sandy Myers's school taxes increased by about $1,000 after his home was reassessed from $250,000 to $360,000, though he said he received a reduction through the STAR program, one of the exemption programs for residents who are income-eligible.
"We received a nice reduction," said Myers.
Gallo and others said they may grieve their taxes through a lawyer, but other than that, agreed that "you can't really do anything about it."
