By Andrew Coen
I'm ready to hang myself, joked Reyes, who lives on Rockaway Turnpike and works at the Five Towns Community Center. I'm even considering selling my house, because it's just too much, between the taxes and then the increase in LIPA [Long Island Power Authority rates].
Her reaction isn't uncommon. Nassau County residents have recently received their tax bills after the first county property reassessments in more than 60 years, and many Five Towners like Reyes are upset at the increases they now must pay.
Marie Caronia, 65, of Cedarhurst, is frustrated that her taxes went from $1,500 to $3,186 and that the payment is due on Nov. 10. I knew it was going up but I didn't expect it to double, she said. That's a lot of money to dig up by Nov. 10.
Caronia also said that the high tax bills are a large part of the reason why she doesn't think next year's Lawrence school budget will pass. That's why elderly people don't vote for the school budget to go up, because the taxes are so high for the school on that basis, she said. I know they can forget about me the next time, because it's expensive.
Bella Cittadino, 83, of Inwood, has seen her taxes skyrocket from $400 to more than $2,000. It went up quite a bit and I'm a widow, she said.
Edith Peterson, 90, of Spring Street in North Lawrence, saw a tax increase from just over $2,000 to $2,291, but she was still unhappy when she received her bill. I'm very unhappy, said Peterson. It's a lot of money when you get to be 90 years old.
Edith Pike, 80, of North Lawrence, was one of the lucky ones who had her taxes reduced slightly as a result of being in the enhanced STAR program, one of the exemption programs available to provide relief for those residents who are income-eligible.
I was one of the fortunate ones, because I get a reduction on my property taxes and I get a reduction on my school taxes, said Pike. Without this senior reduction and without the enhanced program, I would have a very, very difficult time.
According to Sam Donato, Lawrence Public Schools interim assistant superintendent for business, about one-third of District 15 residents' taxes went up from last year, one-third went down and one-third stayed the same. Last year's school tax levy went up 1.1 percent for one-, two- or three-family homes, but the rest of the increases people may have received on their tax bills were due to Nassau County tax hikes and not the school district, according to Donato.
Bills that went up indicate that the properties have been under-assessed for years.
Officials in the neighboring Hewlett-Woodmere School District did not have their average tax figures available.
Jerome Prisyon of Valley Stream, who has paid District 14 taxes for 34 years, was irate over his tax bill's increase from $6,801 to $8,156. I was shocked, absolutely shocked, he said. This is ridiculous!
Prisyon said he thinks that as a result of the latest assessments, the Hewlett-Woodmere school board will have a tougher time passing a bond to build a new Woodmere Middle School, which has gone down to defeat three times already. With these tax increases, I don't think they have a prayer, he said.
A 78-year-old North Woodmere man who lives in District 14 and wished to remain anonymous put the blame for his latest tax bill, which went up $850, on the county assessment office and not on the school district. I put it on the assessment office because [my property] was based on what they called market value, and I challenged them on it and it got nowhere, he said. It was like blowing into a fan.
He said if it had not been for the STAR program, his tax bill would have gone up $2,000 instead of $850.
Garo Falo, 84, who lives on Peninsula Boulevard in Hewlett, has seen her tax bill rise from $600 to $2,000.
I feel it's too much tax for a senior citizen, said Falo. With this economy, it was the wrong time to start fooling around with assessments.
In the late 1990s, Nassau County was ordered by a judge to update the county's 400,000 parcels of land and reassess the parcels within a 27-month period.
Nassau County Assessor Charles O'Shea had asked the judge to phase in the increases over a three-year period to ease the tax bill hikes but was overruled, since the judge wanted to provide immediate tax relief to those who have been overpaying.
According to O'Shea, the STAR program and other exemption programs are available to provide relief for those residents who are income-eligible, with up to 50 percent of school taxes being exempt. About half of the districts in the county have opted into the program, but thousands of residents who are eligible for the STAR program have not applied for it, he said.
O'Shea is running for re-election on Nov. 4 and is being challenged by Democrat Harvey Levinson, who has accused O'Shea of mishandling the reassessment of 420,000 properties by undervaluing luxury homes and ignoring school district lines, among other errors. O'Shea has vehemently denied these accusations.
