by Chris Munzing
A new county reassessment of local properties could cut the school tax burden that recently shocked many local residents, some of whom saw their school tax bills jump more than 100 percent despite a mere 10 percent school budget increase. Long Beach School District officials have been working diligently to try to resolve a 20-year-old problem that left many condo and business owners reaching deep into their pockets when exorbitantly high school tax bills arrived last month.
The current problem was set in motion in 1983 when the school district combined property classes 2, 3 and 4 (condo/co-ops, utilities and commercial property). Twenty years ago, this was done to reduce the tax burden on condo and business owners.
With the recent reassessment, however, utilities such as KeySpan and LIPA were drastically reduced in value -- their contributions to school taxes were cut from $13 million to $700,000, forcing the condos and businesses to pick up the slack. The school district has been working for the past month to separate the three classes, lessening the tax burden on condo and business owners. Should the classes be separated and approved by the school board, assessor's office and county Legislature, a new assessment can take place.
However, the school district has found nothing but bureaucratic red tape and made a lot of unreturned phone calls in recent weeks, particularly to the county assessor's office.
Outgoing Legislator Michael Zapson (D-Long Beach) has called for outgoing Nassau County Assessor Charles O'Shea to provide the school district with the information it needs to proceed. "The county assessor's reluctance or inability to provide this essential information to the Long Beach School District is unacceptable, and is costing the taxpayers of Long Beach money," Zapson said. "The assessor's office exists to provide these kinds of services to the public, and I see no legitimate reason for this delay."
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ronald Friedman said that the school district is doing everything it can, and is hoping that those residents affected make their voices heard to their elected officials. "The Board of Education of the Long Beach School District has made a commitment to do all it can to resolve an unforeseen inequity to the owners of condominiums and small businesses in the city, and will adopt strongly worded resolutions at next Tuesday's Board of Education meeting," Friedman said in a statement issued Nov. 11.
"Since the Board of Education does not have the authority to change this to affect this year's tax bill," Friedman said, "we are reaching out to our elected officials to provide relief. We invite property owners affected by this to join us in our efforts, and urge our elected officials to support this action."
The board is working closely with its attorneys to draft a resolution urging the state and county legislatures to take corrective action that would result in property tax relief for the owners of condominiums and businesses in Long Beach for the current tax year, which only the state Legislature can approve.
In addition, the board is also drafting legislation to correct the problem for the future by ungrouping business, condominium and co-op owners from utilities for the purpose of tax classification. Friedman said this would result in a more reasonable distribution of the tax share, which would substantially reduce the tax impact on condo, co-op and business owners and would not negatively affect residential property owners.
Friedman could not comment on the nature of the resolutions under consideration for legal reasons, but would say that they involved the state and county legislatures and the county assessor's office. "We're frustrated by weeks of inaction, and we're taking matters into our own hands," he said.
Friedman expects the board to unanimously approve the resolutions, which are expected to call on the legislatures and the assessor's office, as well as Albany, to move the process forward and give Long Beach the answers it hss been looking for. "The board is very frustrated by the lack of progress," he said. "[We want] to move this negative process forward."
The resolutions will be addressed and voted on by the full Board of Education at its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
City steps in
Long Beach city officials are also targeting the reassessment for a possible fight. At the Nov. 5 City Council meeting, the council authorized the Long Beach corporation counsel "to commence any lawsuit necessary to effectuate the obtaining of any such data, including a lawsuit against the Nassau County Assessor, and to proceed with such litigation by the City of Long Beach, either alone or in cooperation with the Long Beach School District or other municipal entity or entities, in furtherance of ensuring tax fairness to the citizens of the City of Long Beach."
Corporation Counsel William Holst said that as of now, a lawsuit is not the city's first option. Holst is hopeful that the city and the school district will be able to resolve the problem with the assessor's office without litigation. Holst said that there is no cutoff date for a lawsuit.
"We want to be assured that when they did the reassessment, by their own methodology, it was done correctly," Holst said.
The assessor's office, however, has not been in contact with the city or corporation counsel. "As of now, they haven't even returned phone calls," said Holst.
Holst is hopeful that the issue will be resolved quickly so that the tax burden can be shifted back to the utilities.
