By Anthony Rifilato
Many residents aren't cheering. Depending on the street, home, and other factors, not everyone has received a decrease, and it's leaving a sour taste in the mouths of homeowners, some of whom are appealing their figures.
The average market value of a home in Baldwin, which is the amount a buyer would pay the seller for property on the open market, was assessed at $286,593 by the county's property reassessment agent Cole Layer Trumble, a private firm. The assessed value is a multiplier used together with tax rates to determine the tax bill for a property.
But not everyone agrees with those calculations.
Larry Solomon, who also received an increase, said he thinks people on the North Shore should be paying twice as much. "It's way unfair, the South Shore pays more money tax wise, compared to the North Shore where the homes are double the value," Solomon said.
Residents who haven't received a tax decrease and who live along Baldwin Harbor's canals are particularly concerned about paying more. Dawn and Jim Devine live on Lincoln Street along Parsonage Canal, which is one of several canals set to be dredged and have bulkheads reinforced, if residents agree to foot the tax bill for it.
The canals have been plagued by storm drainage runoff which causes sediment to build up and lower water levels, leaving residents unable to use their boats. Many canal residents favor self-taxation to solve the problem, but with the recent reassessment increases they've received, they said it will now make their taxes soar.
According to Dawn Devine, the taxes for her 1920's one-story home went up $1,160, and the market value of her house is now $195,000, up $60,000.
Prior to reassessment, Devine says that an older house with less property was valued at less money. Now she believes her home value has been based more on the surrounding homes and properties.
Devine also thinks the assessment should be lower because she can only use their boat on the canal for 12 hours out of the day (because the canal is county controlled, the county operates it for the other 12 hours), plus she lives in a high flood area, and she says the streets are too narrow. Not to mention the unknown amount for dredging.
While homeowners usually welcome a higher property values, residents along the canals say that coupled with the cost of dredging, selling their homes would be tough.
"If two years down the line we want to sell, buyers would have to pay high taxes," said Devine, who made a trip to the county reassessment office in Westbury to protest her bill.
One resident on Colony Drive along Grand Canal, who wished not to be named, said she's thinking about moving. "Enough is enough. Logically, our taxes will be higher," she said of the added cost of dredging.
In addition to the added headache of higher taxes, one local resident along Grand Canal said his home was improperly assessed.
Jimmy Gallo, a Parkway Drive resident, said his home was valued as an oceanfront property, although he lives on a canal. Gallo said his taxes went up from $7,000 to a little over $10,000. "You can't compare my house to a bay view, it should be lower," said Gallo, whose home was assessed for $460,000.
"I don't have the access to the water that bay view homeowners have," Gallo said. And with the problems that plague his canal --everything from debris to buildup -- there are times when he can't use his boat at low tide, which is lower than the minimum three feet to navigate. Gallo also says that the canal can be an "eye-sore" at times because of all the "muck" laid bare when the water recedes.
"I don't think anyone would buy [this home] with these taxes," said Gallo.
Even some residents who saw their taxes decline weren't celebrating. Janet Bezmen, who lives on Madison Avenue in North Baldwin, said that her home value decreased slightly, and she believes it is worth more than the county say it is.
"[If] I sell the house, I can get more than they say," said Bezmen. "I don't think it's a thorough evaluation."
