Secrecy over Nassau assessments puzzling

What's up with assessment? And what's happening to the integrity of Nassau County's assessment roll?

The issues were raised -- and not answered -- Tuesday night during yet another wild meeting of the county legislature.

At one point, Legis. Wayne Wink, a Democrat, asked why assessments on a some properties appeared to have been significantly lowered compared to assessments on others.

"They're amazing to me . . . in some cases, there were over 20 percent reductions," he said.

Wink said he got his information from the county Civil Service Employees Association, which got it from soon-to-be laid off employee members of assessment-related departments that are bearing the brunt of the county's layoffs.

Indeed, there seems to be unnecessary secrecy surrounding the process of how Standard Valuation Services, a firm hired by the county to settle assessment-related claims, goes about its work.

"It would not be proper to comment on the process while litigation is still pending and the matters are before the court," was the county's response to my question.

But, wait, the point of the settlement conferences is supposed to be to resolve assessment challenges BEFORE they go to court. Before the county becomes liable for refunds plus interest. So why can't the county explain?

The unnecessary secrecy ought to make property owners uneasy. That secrecy -- combined with Wink's comments -- ought to make them squirm.

Why?

Think back to late last year, when Newsday obtained a draft copy of the comptroller's audit of the assessment system. The report detailed the damage artificially lowering assessments could cause:

It would compromise the integrity of the assessment rolls.

It would open Nassau up for even more challenges as property owners realized that the values of neighbors' properties were wildly different from their own.

It would also shift the burden of paying a greater share of property taxes -- since assessment only determines a property owner's share of taxes levied by school districts, et al -- to property owners who did NOT file challenges.

Now, add to that the county's new policy of having settlement conferences -- and by extension, the chance of some reduction -- for EVERYONE who grieves assessments.

And it becomes a recipe for disaster that would take years to correct.

The draft report -- the comptroller's office said a final, revised report based on corrections from assessment will be released soon -- noted that Nassau appeared to want to drive down assessments as a way to inoculate itself from successful appeals.

The thinking -- my words, not the draft's -- appears to be let's go so low that Nassau will be able to save money by not throwing it away on the obscenely high cost of successful appeals.

It's good thinking. But bad policy -- if that is, in fact, what Nassau is attempting to do. For now, nobody, including property owners, knows.

The fix for assessment isn't to reduce everybody's assessment. It's to make a complex system open and, most of all, fair. How can residents have confidence any other way?

The contract for SVS is scheduled for the legislature's rules committee in July. Peter Schmitt, the body's presiding officer, has asked SVS president Matt Smith to appear and explain the process and the contract.

Stay tuned.