Laura Curran vetoes referendum on elected Nassau assessor

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran has vetoed a bill asking voters to decide if the county assessor should be an elected position, rejecting a Republican effort to hold a countywide referendum on the issue for the second time in three years.

Under a bill backed by Republican lawmakers, Nassau would hold a referendum in November for voters to decide whether the assessor should be elected or continue to serve as an appointee of the county executive.

If the referendum were to pass, an election for assessor would take place in June 2022, according to a bill approved in February in a party-line vote in the GOP-controlled legislature.

In her veto letter on March 10, Curran accused Republican lawmakers of making "empty political gestures such as this local law."

Appointed assessors are "career professionals, compared to elected assessors who are more subject to political pressures," Curran wrote.

Elected assessors "are a remnant of a by-gone era, surviving in less than 6% of New York assessing municipalities," Curran said.

Republicans say an elected assessor would be more accountable to the public.

Chris Boyle, a spokesman for majority Republicans in the legislature, did not say whether the caucus would hold an override vote. Democrats have enough votes to sustain the veto.

"If the County Executive is so proud of her reassessment which has resulted in thousands of errors and tax increases for 65% of property owners, she should welcome a referendum on whether Nassau should have an elected assessor, or a political appointee," Boyle said in a statement.

County data shows that, under reassessment, 65% of residents are seeing hikes in school property tax bills, while 35% are due reductions.

Curran, a Democrat, is up for reelection in November, as are all Nassau County legislators.

Curran's reassessment of all properties countywide is expected to be a prominent issue in the county executive race.

Republicans have chosen Hempstead Town Council member Bruce Blakeman to challenge Curran.

William Biamonte, chief of staff to legislative Democrats, said his caucus would "once again uphold" Curran's veto.

Republicans proposed an identical referendum for an elected assessor in 2019. Curran vetoed the bill and Democratic county legislators voted to uphold her veto.

Nassau had an elected county assessor until 2008, when voters approved a referendum to make the assessor an appointee of the county executive.

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.