By Dana Klosner-Wehner
Clavin stressed that many people are paying too much in taxes because their home values have been assessed to high.
“There are 100 million reasons to challenge your assessment,” Clavin said. “Two years ago Nassau County gave out $100 million in refunds to overassesed properties. Last year there were $80 million in refunds.”
Homes are being reassessed every year, Clavin said.
“Everyone got a letter from Nassau County last month, where they looked into their crystal ball and said, ‘This is what your house is going to be worth,’” Clavin said.
“People think, ‘Well, my assessment’s going to be lower so my taxes will be lower,’” Clavin continued. “But that’s not true. They’re going to play with your tax rate.”
In two years, even though a homeowner’s assessment went down, they still could end up paying higher taxes, Clavin said.
Clavin said that for a community like Elmont, the assessments can be devastating. “In the fall of 2005 the school district said it needed an average tax increase of 4.46 percent,” he said. “Elmont said, ‘OK.’ Because of changes in the assessments 71 percent of residential households paid more than the 4.46 percent increase, on average they paid a 16 percent tax increase. This is due directly to changes in the assessment process.”
Clavin pointed out that the assessor’s job is no longer a nominated position. It is now a position that is appointed by the county executive. He said that earlier this year County Executive Tom Suozzi put forth the name of the new assessor in Nassau County, Ted Jankowski. Clavin was critical of Suozzi’s appointment, noting that Jankowski is not from New York, has held three jobs in the last four years and he is not certified to do assessments in New York State.
Clavin said there is some good news. While Nassau County is drowning in deficit, the town is not and the supervisor is planning to announce a no tax increase budget this year.
“Sometimes you read about bad things,” Clavin said “When it comes to the town we are in much better shape than the county.”
Clavin pointed out that this is an exciting time for Elmont.
“I grew up in Valley Stream,” he said. “You don’t appreciate Elmont until you come and spend some time here. I haven’t been to Belmont is 15 years. I went there with some friends about two years ago. We had a great time.”
Clavin said that former Gov. Eliot Spitzer had just one idea for the racetrack. “I think that intention was to pave it over and build a lot of stuff,” Clavin said. “And I think the new governor and the legislature in Albany have a different intention. The racetrack is a beautiful place.”
Clavin said that as tax receiver he not only collects town taxes but he collects county taxes and school district taxes. He said last year his office collected $2.6 billion in tax revenues. Uncollected taxes were only at about 4.4 to 4.6 percent.
“We haven’t seen a spike in unpaid taxes,” he said. “That’s because people are more willing to pay their taxes, so they don’t get a lien on their house and have all those problems, than pay their mortgage.”
Clavin said that in addition to the main office and the two satellite offices that receive taxes, last year the first drive-thru tax payment office was opened. “On average in the last two collection seasons we have seen 1,000 people use the drive-thru,” Clavin said. These were mostly senior citizens who did not have to fight for handicapped parking spaces and people with kids in the car, he said.
There are four ways to pay your taxes, he said. By cash, money order, check or credit card. When you pay by credit card you pay a separate fee called a convenience fee, which is 2.5 percent of your payment.
“There are two types of people that pay their taxes by credit card,” Clavin said. “One is my wife who says she’ll pay her taxes by credit card five years in a row and in five years she’ll be going to Italy first class. Then there are creative people who pay on the deadline of Nov. 11.”
Clavin said that a private company now processes tax payments. “When I first became receiver of taxes in 2001 it would take a week to process tax payments,” he said. “Now with a private institution, payments are processed in 24 hours.”
He also said that while people are starting to retire in his office, because of the processing being outsourced, he doesn’t need to hire new employees. So the government saves on salaries and health care costs.
Clavin said that soon people might be able to pay their taxes and receive their receipts via the Internet. That would save thousands, if not millions, he said.
