by Jennifer Marino
Many residents of Rockville Centre were surprised and unhappy with the hike in their school taxes this year. The statement of school taxes that went out this year told taxpayers, in red ink, to contact their school district for information. The school district contends that it is only responsible for an increase of 8.8 percent. The rest is due to the reassessments, which changed this year. As of last Friday the school had gotten about 130 calls from concerned residents.
"We're only partially responsible," said Superintendent William Johnson. Yellis doesn't want to point any fingers of blame, but, he said, taxes are a "burden."
Johnson, a Rockville Centre resident, said that his tax bill went up, too, but he knew it was coming. Homeowners had been warned at Board of Education meetings and in the Herald that reassessment would affect their taxes. But reality didn't hit home for many until they opened their bills earlier this month.
Under the new system, created because of Nassau County's reassessment, assessed values are computed differently. They are based on 1 percent of a home's true market value. This means a home worth $500,000 will have an assessed value of $5,000. Homeowners will pay approximately $135 in taxes for every $100 of a home's assessed value, so the owner of that $500,000 home would pay about $6,750 in school taxes.
All homeowners should have received letters from the county last year stating their homes' new assessed values.
The bill also said, in red, "school tax rates are set by your local board of education." This is wrong, according to Assistant Superintendent Robert Bartels. The school board sets the tax levy, and then Nassau County sets the tax rate, taking into consideration the assessments and the adjusted base proportion.
Another problem that Bartels has found with this year's tax bill is that it says that the 2002 fair market value is "unavailable." So, homeowners can't compare the 2003 fair market value with last year's. The formula to figure out the 2002 fair market value is relatively simple, but it involves digging out last year's statement. Find the total assessment on last year's statement and divide that by the uniform percent of value, which was 2.11 percent (so, divide by 0.0211). If a homeowner's 2002 bill listed a total assessment of $5,000, divide that by 0.0211 and the fair market value in 2002 was about $236,966.
Then homeowners can see how much more their houses are valued at this year. If they don't think their new fair market value is accurate, they can do several things, according to Bartels. One would be to consult their neighbors to see if they have a comparable value. Fair market values can be compared on-line at mynassauproperty.com and at the assessor's office. Homeowners can also file grievances; there is information about this process on the back of the tax statement.
Bartels has also been telling residents who have called the school district that they should check to make sure they are getting all of the exemptions they have in the past. He knows of at least one case where the homeowner wasn't.
Some residents are looking for relief in new ways. Rosemary Perkowski has decided try to get exemptions through the state's STAR program with the help of her daughter, since she received a "shocking" tax bill. "It was very disturbing," she said.
