Nassau County Executive Laura Curran introduces a Quality Assurance Unit...

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran introduces a Quality Assurance Unit to develop and review policy and procedures for the Department of Assessment, the Assessment Review Commission and Small Claims Assessment Review. Credit: Howard Schnapp

Your Jan. 24 editorial, “Curran needs to get it right,” describes the change in Nassau County’s class one level of assessment as a “retreat.” That was absolutely not true.

Dropping the level of assessment (the fraction of market value at which homes are assessed) from 0.25 to 0.10 percent was essential to restore accuracy to the assessment rolls. I promised to fix the broken assessment system and I’m doing just that.

As you stated, reducing the level was the “best possible plan.” We arrived at it through a careful and deliberate process.

Immediately after I hired the first qualified county assessor in eight years, he analyzed the assessment data and found that maintaining the level at 0.25 percent (a legislative majority condition for approving our vendor contracts) would continue the inequities of the frozen roll and again result in a different level of assessment at the Assessment Review Commission. Half of the county’s taxpayers would continue to subsidize the other half.

I issued an executive order directing the assessor to set the level to maximize accuracy and integrity, enabling the county to defend the roll and avoid the need for mass settlements. Relying on the advice of a nationally renowned assessment expert, the assessor reduced the level to 0.10.

Staffing levels and procedures at the Department of Assessment were decimated during the prior administration. The information technology is antiquated, and no investment had been made in decades to upgrade and modernize the assessment system.

We are staffing up the department, upgrading the information technology, and finally cleaning up the monumental mess everyone else was afraid to touch.

I recognize that there have been bumps in the road during the complex reassessment process, including processing mishaps like typographical errors and website glitches, but the change in the level of assessment was certainly not one of them.

For the first time in almost a decade, with the help of two outside vendors, we have produced updated, fair and accurate assessments for every property in Nassau County that we are confident we can defend.

Laura Curran, Mineola

Editor’s note: The writer is Nassau County executive.

Consumer website might help patients

I am disappointed in your article on hospital price transparency [“Decoding your hospital bill,” News, Jan. 26]. I agree that, due to the complexities of a medical encounter and complexities of insurance contracts, transparency alone does not at all enable consumers (the intent of the regulation by the federal government requiring hospitals to post prices online).

Asked by one of Newsday’s reporters what a consumer could do, I suggested a consumer website such as fairhealth.org as more empowering. Short of health reforms, this is something your readers might wish to access.

Dr. Charles Rothberg, Patchogue

Editor’s note: The writer, an ophthalmologist, is a past president of the Medical Society of the State of New York, an advocacy organization.

Many federal workers really lost pay in 2013

I am a federal employee who thoroughly enjoyed my time off during the partial federal shutdown [“Back to work,” News, Jan. 27]. My agency is processing back pay and it should be deposited to my account no later than Friday.

Where was the media outrage during the federal budget sequestration in 2013, when many employees were required to take several work days off without pay? As an employee of the Environmental Protection Agency, I lost 10 days of pay.

John J. Bachmann Jr., Lindenhurst

Judge lost city post due to partisanship

It was another sad day at City Hall on Jan. 22 when partisan politics again prevented the best that Glen Cove has to offer from serving our great city.

Joseph McCann, a man of outstanding character, impeccable credentials and a long record of excellence, was denied the opportunity to continue his service as an associate city judge [“Judge denied 3rd term,” News, Jan. 24].

At the meeting, people from across party lines rose to endorse his appointment. Yet, when the vote was called, every one of five Republican council members voted no, leaving the two Democrats, Mayor Timothy Tenke and Councilwoman Marsha Silverman, to cast the only yes votes.

Does it even matter that concerned citizens show up and voice their opinions? Once again, the best interest of the city was undermined by partisan politics. We can and must do better by the people of Glen Cove.

Gaitley Stevenson-Mathews, Glen Cove

Editor’s note: The writer is a member of the Community Development Agency and was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for City Council in 2017.

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