Nassau considering outside appraisal

Nassau lawmakers on Monday will consider a $2.4 million contract for an outside appraiser who already has done about $2 million worth of work without approval of the county Legislature.

The administration of County Executive Edward Mangano moved in early January to hire Standard Valuation Services, headed by appraiser Matt Smith, to negotiate and settle thousands of homeowner property tax protests without competitive bidding, interviews and records show.

Smith completed the bulk of his work in April, but the administration only sent his contract to the legislature late last month. Voters a decade ago approved a referendum requiring the legislature's Rules Committee to approve all professional service contracts of more than $25,000.

"The basis of government is checks and balances," said Legis. Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury), a Rules member. "This is an affront to that entire concept."

Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa), who publicly berated past county executives if work began before contracts were approved, called the situation "very regrettable." He said he expects the contract to be approved because Smith has done the work, but "I'm going to make my unhappiness known."

Although the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, which took control of the county's finances in January, must approve all contracts of $50,000 or more, it did not receive the Smith agreement until mid-June.

"The county's failure to provide us contracts on a timely basis is inexplicable," said NIFA board member Leonard Steinman.

County Attorney John Ciampoli said the county needed to move fast in January to dispose of some 60,000 outstanding residential protests -- and thousands more existing small claims cases -- by April to avoid facing millions of dollars in tax refunds. He said hired Smith's firm because it was the only one with the experience, staff and resources to do the job quickly. He contended that the appraiser saved the county between $20 to $30 million in refunds and other court costs.

Smith said his firm, with 31 employees, worked 14-hours a day, seven days a week to resolve the cases. He acknowledged Friday that his work was basically completed by April for just under $2 million. He has yet to be paid, pending legislative approval.

Records show the county did not issue a request for proposals, a public notice that would have allowed other firms to make competitive offers.

"I would have [responded] if I had been offered," said longtime appraiser Michael Haberman, who did assessment appraisals through four past county administrations and was a consultant with Smith on the 2003 countywide reassessment. "They never sent an RFP out."

A a 1993 executive order and written policy requires Nassau to solicit at least three firms for professional service contracts, but the county attorney's office reports only that it "evaluated" two other firms: Paul Dyckes, who runs a small two-person appraisal company in Huntington, and a husband-wife run Rockville Centre firm, JA Cowan and Associates.

Although both Dyckes and Cowan are on the county's approved vendor list, both say they did not know about this contract and were not approached to do it.

"This is the first I've heard about this contract," Dyckes said when contacted by Newsday Wednesday. "I have no knowledge of this evaluation. It was done without my knowledge.... I would have liked to have gotten that [contract]."

Jim Cowan said Wednesday, "I don't recall being specifically evaluated for this specific contract. I am a small firm and would not be able to handle a contract of this volume."

Campoli said Smith was exempt from legislative oversight or procurement procedures because he hired him as an "expert witness" for court testimony. Ciampoli said he bowed to Schmitt's insistence that the legislature review the contract even though Deputy County Executive Rob Walker already signed it.

But Democrats contend Smith was essentially doing the work of assessment employees. Several dozen were recently laid off.

"It's just the latest nonexistent loophole to avoid the legislative process," said Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick).

While Smith has contributed to politicians of both major parties, he and his wife have donated $7,450 to Friends of Mangano since 2009.