Double-digit tax hike stuns homeowners

Thousands of Nassau County residents have been socked with double-digit increases in school taxes -- many for the second year in a row.

The hikes come even as the county has tried to fix the property-valuation system responsible for the bulk of the increases by deciding to reassess property every four years, instead of annually. Over the past three months, county officials also have held 22 workshops in local communities aimed at helping property owners obtain tax exemptions to which they are entitled.

Those efforts are small comfort to such homeowners as David Pollack, a retired electronics wholesaler. The recently received school tax bill on Pollack's two-story stucco house rose 12.4 percent, to $17,153, on top of a 22.9 percent jump the previous year.

"People ask: 'When is this going to end?' " said Pollack, 77, who lives in a gated Plainview community known as the Hamlet. "People are considering moving out of the Hamlet, and even out of Nassau County."

More than half of the 90 Hamlet residents who showed up for a meeting last month with local school officials raised their hands when asked whose tax bills had risen by double digits. For retirees on fixed incomes, the situation is particularly worrisome.

Stabilization uncertainty

County assessment experts said they can't be sure efforts under way to stabilize the system over the next few years will succeed.

Big differences in school tax bills stem from complexities in Nassau's assessment system, which involves multiple layers of government -- school districts, towns and the county -- and generates tax decreases for some property owners while requiring others to make up the difference. The fluctuations in current school tax bills occurred even as increases in tax levies to fund district budgets for the 2011-12 school year averaged 3.42 percent.

School tax bills, which usually include small charges for local library budgets, make up more than 60 percent of homeowners' taxes. Property owners will get bills covering county and town taxes during the first two weeks of January.

According to county figures compiled at Newsday's request, 55,920 homes, 16 percent of all Nassau houses included in the analysis, received school-tax increases this fall of 10 percent to 20 percent. Another 8,599 homes, or 2 percent, got increases of more than 20 percent. At the opposite end, 12,549 homes, or 4 percent, received tax decreases of 10 percent to 20 percent, and 5,449 homes, or 1.6 percent, got reductions of more than 20 percent. The remainder of homes had increases or decreases of up to 10 percent, or no change.

The county's calculations covered 345,680 homes, with another 39,500 excluded because of tax exemptions that did not allow year-to-year comparisons.

The county's Assessment Department determined tax rates for each of the county's 56 school districts after budget votes in the spring, based upon each district's calculated values of homes, office buildings and other properties.

Property owners may challenge assessments through the county's Assessment Review Commission and courts. Tax rates are passed along to towns, which mail bills to individual property owners.

Market forces also play a major role in property owners' tax bills. When property prices drop, as many have during the economic downturn, assessed values tend to fall -- some dramatically, others much less. Property owners who experienced the biggest drops in value often see their taxes go down, while other owners' taxes rise more than average to make up the difference.

Even with imposition next school year of a 2 percent property tax cap, the wide fluctuations in Nassau property owners' school tax bills still could occur, driven by varying assessments.

Nassau's property taxes, which rank among the nation's highest, are a volatile financial and political issue in neighborhoods from Farmingdale to Floral Park. County Executive Edward Mangano, whose 2009 election was widely attributed to public outrage over taxes, moved quickly to order that values of all homes and businesses be reassessed every four years -- rather than annually, as in the past.

"We agree that school taxes are too high," Randolph Yunker, a spokesman for Nassau's Department of Assessment, said in a statement. "That is one of the many reasons that County Executive Mangano is working each day to improve the accuracy and fairness of the assessment roll so that no one pays more school property taxes than they should."

Right to challenge remains

Property owners, under the new system of reassessment, will retain their right to challenge their assessments annually. This raises the possibility that as those owners obtain lower assessments and tax bills, other owners could get hit with disproportionate tax increases.

In October, County Comptroller George Maragos reported that new assessment practices put in place so far may have shifted more of the tax burden to middle-class homeowners -- that is, those with homes valued between $330,000 and $440,000 -- and to those who did not challenge their assessments. Two of the county's assessment authorities declined to predict whether the situation would improve in the years immediately ahead.

"I couldn't tell you in one brush stroke what will happen," said Greg Hild, a former Smithtown assessor hired by Nassau to head a review of the county's assessment practices. That review was completed in 2011.

Steve Corte, a deputy county assessor, offered a similar response. "We can't tell you that," he said, "because the bottom line is that the increases you talk about have nothing to do with this department."

The unpredictability of school-tax increases angers many homeowners. Such is the case in the Hamlet, where many residents saw hikes in individual tax bills exceeding 12 percent, even though the local Plainview-Old Bethpage school district increased its overall average tax collections only 2.59 percent.

Other examples abound:

Residents of 13 condominium units in the Springwood complex in Farmingdale saw their taxes rise from 9.1 percent to 19.7 percent. The Farmingdale school district raised its overall average taxes just 2.52 percent.

Dan Carroll, 79, a Springwood resident whose current school tax bill increased nearly 11 percent, to $2,976, doubts the county will succeed in fixing its assessment system. Carroll's taxes rose 24 percent in 2010.

"I think they're just giving out a bunch of steam," the retired Grumman employee said.

Peter and Pat Leonetti of Bethpage saw taxes on their Colonial-style house rise 14.9 percent to $6,425. The Bethpage school district increased its overall average taxes only 3.41 percent.

"When we got the bill, you could have knocked me over," said Pat Leonetti, 63, a retired customer service representative for an insurance company.

In Oyster Bay Cove, taxes on Diane Eckel's house rose 8.46 percent to $25,231. The Oyster Bay-East Norwich district increased its overall average taxes 5.4 percent.

"It's just very bizarre how they do things," Eckel said of the county's assessment and taxing system.

Many school officials also find the disparities troublesome.

"We work so hard to build trust," said Ryan Ruf, assistant superintendent for business in Plainview-Old Bethpage. "So when we put out a 2.59 percent increase and that's not what homeowners are seeing, that's when the frustration kicks in."

Signs of improvement

Some homeowners who have obtained tax reductions, however, think this may signal a turnaround for the county.

Lutful Chowdury, who lives in Westbury, saw his school taxes drop 23 percent, to $7,668. The decrease came after Chowdury enlisted the help of Fred Perry, an attorney specializing in tax-assessment appeals.

"It was not that good before, but recently I think it's gotten better," Chowdury said, adding that he had challenged his assessments several times without success.

County officials said Plainview's Hamlet is an example of a place where the assessment system works as intended. They noted that homes in the gated community have maintained their value more than most in the school district, in part because the development includes amenities such as a clubhouse restaurant and an indoor pool that are attractive to retired home buyers.

Hamlet residents dismissed that explanation, saying it doesn't justify their paying tax increases so much higher than those imposed on neighborhoods nearby.

"People think taxes will go up $200 or $300, and they're not -- they're going up $3,000," said Ralph Barash, 78, a Hamlet homeowner whose taxes have risen 34.5 percent over the past two years. "It's insanity!"