Nassau taxpayers face penalties to April 1 despite June 1 extension

Nassau County taxpayers who missed a June 1 extension to pay property taxes are facing hundreds of dollars in penalties and interest retroactive to April 1, according to county officials.

Majority Republicans on the county Legislature say the penalties should be retroactive only until June 1. The extension was billed as relief for homeowners struggling to make ends meet during the coronavirus pandemic.

But assessment officials say the county administrative code mandates that the charges take effect beginning April 1, the statutory deadline for second-half school tax payments.

In response to concerns from lawmakers and residents, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran Curran has asked Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to authorize waiver of penalties and interest until July 1.

Legis. Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park), the presiding officer, asked Curran in a letter last week to "instruct the Treasurer's Office, by Executive Order if necessary," to defer penalties and interest to June 1, "and refund any payments made by homeowners and businesses reflecting the April 1, 2020 imposition date."

Nicolello said in an interview he understood that after June 1, "once you're past that, you have to pay fees and penalties, because it's late."

But the penalties "shouldn't be going back to April 1, I think that punishes people," Nicolello said. "The whole intent of this was to give people relief."

Ordinarily, second-half school tax payments are due to town tax receivers by April 1, but could be paid this year by May 11 without penalty or interest charges. After that, the county would impose a 6% penalty, and a 1% interest charge for each month taxes were late.

This year, Cuomo signed an executive order allowing Curran, a Democrat, to extend the date. Through her own executive order, Curran extended the deadline to June 1.

"We apologize for any confusion," county Treasurer Beaumont Jefferson said in an interview,

"Unfortunately, that's the real property tax law," Jefferson said. "We're sorry again if there was a misunderstanding, but the taxes were due April 1 … We didn't change the real property tax law, we just gave folks additional time to pay and unfortunately, if you didn't take advantage of that 21-day period, you have to pay the penalties and interest, and you would have had to pay those last year or the year before."

Curran blamed the Legislature for causing confusion when it voted unanimously on April 20 to extend the payment grace period until June 10. Curran never signed the bill, calling it illegal, and Cuomo subsequently allowed Curran to extend the deadline to June 1. 

"Unfortunately, many of our residents were confused as to the date … as a result of the County Legislature's illegal passage" of a law "attempting to extend the deadline to later in June," Curran wrote to Nicolello.

Some homeowners said they were surprised this week to learn that their tax bills had jumped by several hundred dollars.

Merrick resident Keith Schwan, 44, said his bill was supposed to be $7,095, but learned from the treasurer's office that the total would be closer to $7,900.

Schwan said he would pay the bill by the end of the month but hoped the county would "waive the surcharges and the late fees. We're here during a pandemic, I'm here with the tax money. I'm not late, just take it.”

Jason Conwall, a spokesman for Cuomo, said in a statement Friday  that Curran had, “brought this situation to our attention today and it is our understanding that while the county legislature passed a bill changing the property tax payment deadline to June 10 this was ultimately vetoed by the County Executive leaving the due date at June 1. We are reviewing the County Executive’s request and how we can achieve the goal of the executive order, which was to provide New Yorkers with the opportunity to delay their property tax payments without interest or penalty.” ​

Jeanine Driscoll, Hempstead Receiver of Taxes, said the town has heard from residents who thought the deadline was June 10. She said she hoped Cuomo would allow for an extension to let taxpayers who were confused continue making payments without penalty.

"So many dates and phases and all these things being thrown at people — I think that people are not as attuned,” Driscoll said.

With Michael Gormley

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.