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Unexpected Returns

After reassessment, homeowners surprised by higher tax bills

By Celeste Hadrick and Michael Rothfeld | Staff Writer

September 23, 2002

Retired teacher Maggie vanBoom was stunned to learn the results of her five-year legal battle against Nassau County to lower the taxes on her Hempstead Village colonial and on the homes of her neighbors. VanBoom was one of six African-American plaintiffs in a landmark lawsuit that forced Nassau to conduct its first countywide reassessment since 1938. They showed that the county's outdated assessment system overstated the value of homes in minority communities, making their owners pay a higher share of taxes than people in neighborhoods that are wealthier and predominantly white. But after the long-sought reassessment, vanBoom, 73, recently was notified by a county consultant that her total tax bill was going up by $310, not down.

"I am very angry," vanBoom said. "Why should I pay more on something that I have not been treated fairly on to begin with?"

Though it was a shock to vanBoom and others involved in the lawsuit, many minority homeowners who expected huge tax breaks are instead going to see their taxes rise because of a redistribution of school taxes within their communities.

While homeowners in minority areas are likely to pay less in county and town taxes as wealthier neighborhoods pay more, they cannot shift their school tax burden, which is often 60 percent or more of the total bill. Before and after reassessment, the population within every school district must still pay for that district's entire budget through school taxes. So for everyone who has received a school tax cut after their home was revalued in Roosevelt, for example, someone else in Roosevelt will see a tax increase to make up the difference.

"The school district burden is not transferred to another school district," said Benjamin Nadola, a vice president with Cole Layer Trumble, the county reassessment consultant. "It's not transferred to Manhasset. It's not transferred to Bayville or Freeport."

Statistics compiled by the Nassau County Department of Assessment show that about 60 percent of Roosevelt's homeowners will pay higher school taxes while more than 50 percent of the homeowners in the Freeport, Uniondale and Hempstead school districts also will pay more.

"The worst surprise is for people who thought they were going to get a windfall," said Legis. Lisanne Altmann (D-Great Neck), who requested the school tax analysis along with Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury). "Not only are they not getting a windfall, but their taxes are going up."

The impact on school taxes is similar whether areas are rich or poor, underassessed or overassessed. In Manhasset, which historically has been underassessed compared with the rest of the county, 60 percent of property owners will see school taxes rise but 40 percent will be cut, the statistics show. In the Great Neck school district, 53 percent will get school tax hikes, but 47 percent will receive cuts.

The numbers released do not reveal the amounts of average increases or decreases in any of the districts, however. County officials point out that those unhappy with reassessment are only telling half the story, because many receiving tax cuts have remained silent.

"For everyone who is complaining that they're a loser, there's somebody sitting back who is a winner," said James Culver, a county consultant coordinating the reassessment. But in minority communities, those who are speaking out say the reassessment has not lived up to their hopes.

Diana Coleman, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, says she has been told she will receive a $1,000-a-year tax cut, but knows many who are getting increases. "People have been thanking me in the street, saying, 'Thanks a lot!'" she said. "Because they had been expecting, living in Roosevelt, that they would see a decrease ... There's levels of expectation, and when reality sets in, it can be quite troubling."

In vanBoom's case, her town and county taxes are estimated to drop by $50, but her school taxes are projected to increase by $360 even if the tax rate remains the same as last year. That would boost her total tax bill to $4,329 - including any deductions she might be allowed - though she plans to challenge her assessment.

Andreaus Guilty also is facing higher tax bills for the town, county and Uniondale school district, with his total increasing from $1,562 to $3,124 a year. He didn't believe that he had been paying too few taxes on his 480-square-foot home before. "All the communities that have been overassessed should get tax breaks, not increases," said Guilty, a former rapper who goes by the name Andreaus 13.

Donald Shaffer, an attorney who helped bring the civil rights lawsuit against Nassau's assessment practices, acknowledged that the school tax results surprised him. But he said the county's tentative new overall assessments for the minority communities were in line with expectations, with the Roosevelt school district's total assessed value dropping the most of any community in the county, decreasing 17.5 percent. The Uniondale school district's total value dropped 16.87 percent while Hempstead's decreased by 14.11 percent and Freeport sank 13.22 percent.

He pointed out that with the school districts' drop in total values, the districts should be eligible for more money under New York's school aid formula. And that may also limit the homeowners increase in school taxes, said Shaffer, legal director of the Nassau chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union. And that would be a relief to many in poorer areas who say they can't afford more.

"We're going to probably get rid of the house soon," said Lillie Vereen, 61, a homeowner on Allers Boulevard in Roosevelt who said she'll receive nearly a $500 tax increase from reassessment. She is not working, and her husband, David is retired and disabled, she said. "We've been here almost 40 years, but as we get older, we get less income."