Farmingdale man calls 24 percent hike 'exorbitant'

Like many Nassau County residents, Dan Carroll of Farmingdale would like someone to explain October's school-tax surprise.

Taxes on the one-bedroom brick condominium occupied by Carroll and his wife have just jumped $500, or 24.5 percent. And this, in a year when Farmingdale's school spending rose only 3.27 percent.

"Well, you know, I'm pretty proficient in math, and I thought, 'This has got to be some kind of mistake,' " said Carroll, 78, a retired Grumman employee. But then, Carroll talked to neighbors in his 24-unit condominium complex and found that they, too, had been hit with identical tax hikes.

"Outrageous," said Kenneth Svitak, 68, a retired Con-Ed substation operator who lives a few doors away.

At the Nassau Assessor's Office in Mineola, staffers explain that recent condo sales in Carroll's neighborhood have remained strong, with market values increasing slightly. Meanwhile, assessed market values of other residences throughout Farmingdale have dropped 16 percent.

As a result, those staffers say, taxes on the condos occupied by Carroll and his neighbors have increased faster than taxes on many other Farmingdale-area residences - some of which have actually dropped. In effect, higher tax payments in one place help balance lower payments elsewhere.

The explanation leaves Carroll unmoved.

"I take 24 percent as being exorbitant," he said.