March 11, 2019
NYREJ Ask the Experts: Nassau Property Tax Notices Cause Confusion and Grievance Deadline Extension
Nassau County’s property tax appeal deadline has been extended to April 30th this year. Republican legislators pushed for the extension citing numerous errors associated with this year’s countywide revaluation of all properties. The current county executive and her administration, which happens to be Democratic, says they have extended the deadline in order to allow every property owner the opportunity to have their assessment reviewed. Regardless of which side was the true impetus or enactor of the change, the bottom line is that property owners now have an additional sixty days before a grievance must be filed to protest their taxes.
The highly publicized and politicized revaluation has caused a great deal of confusion amongst property owners. Every property has received at least three separate notices by now. The first was sent as a requirement under the real property tax law in early November advising of the property’s new assessment. However, the notice did not contain an estimate of taxes resulting from the new assessment, which caused tremendous fear and angst amongst property owners.
Next, Nassau County sent a “Tax Impact Notice,” which showed last year’s taxes next to projected taxes for the 2020-2021 tax year. This notice lacked clarity in that assessment ratios that had not been used since 2010 formed the basis for comparison between property values. Many residential and commercial property owners were utterly confused when they saw artificially low values sky rocket while the change in taxes appeared to be less drastic. For property owners who saw their taxes increase, there was a great deal of frustration. But, even property owners who saw marginal changes or tax reductions judged the notices with great suspicion due to the lack of consistency when comparing the value increase.
The last and most recent notice arrived in early January with the officially published tentative assessment as of January 2, 2019. This notice again contained the 2010 assessment ratio which resulted in the same large percentage increases, again alarming property owners. This notice also stated the deadline to file a grievance was March 1st, even though the deadline had been extended to April 30th.
Along the way, the assessor announced that over 40,000 residential assessments were corrected in December. While taxpayer input was cited as a positive element of what caused the changes, others feared that such a large volume of changes hurt the credibility of the revaluation values.
Another point of confusion amongst taxpayers receiving the assessment notices is exactly when the new assessments will affect their tax payments. Under the law, the assessments published January 2, 2019 do not impact tax bills until the October 2020 school tax bill and January 2021 general tax bill. So while the multiple notices sent by the county in rapid succession left owners with the impression that the change will soon affect their bank accounts, there is actually a significant delay before it does so.
There are negative aspects of the time lag, but an overwhelming positive aspect is that it enables property owners to file their grievance and have a substantive review of their case prior to issuance of the tax bills. If an owner feels they are inaccurately assessed, this avenue of recourse is one that property owners must avail themselves of and file a grievance prior to the new April 30th deadline.
It remains to be seen if the assessment roll is an improvement upon prior rolls. There has been some rhetoric that the assessment roll is now “fixed.” Such statements fail to understand the complexity of revaluing 424,000 parcels and the pitfalls that come with mass appraisal. The assessor’s willingness to make changes where they are warranted is positive, but the fact that thousands of errors occurred in the first place is of major concern. Property owners need to have confidence in the county’s commitment to accurate values and an expectation that the county will examine the merit of assessment changes. To that end, the extension of the grievance deadline is a critical one.
Brad Cronin, Esq., and Sean Cronin, Esq., are partners at Cronin & Cronin Law Firm, PLLC, Mineola, N.Y.
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Brad W. Cronin, Esq.
Brad W. Cronin is the founding Partner at Cronin & Cronin Law Firm. He has over 40 years of Legal Experience. Brad represents a cross section of many of the largest New York developers, property owners, national corporations, REITs and retail chains. He has extensive trial experience having successfully litigated and resolved high profile cases throughout New York State which has resulted in a number of landmark decisions in the field of Tax Certiorari.
Over the years Brad’s reputation for honesty and integrity has led to long term relationships with municipal assessment officials. His expertise and extensive experience along with his reputation has resulted in some of the highest property tax reductions in New York State.
Brad has been selected as a Who’s Who of Long Island Business News for the past 7 years in the fields of Tax Certiorari law and Real Estate Law. Each year Long Island Business News honors business leaders whose creative approach to challenges and positive results help to make Long Island better.
For over 30 years Brad has earned the highest rating awarded by Martindale Hubbell in both competency and ethics in his field. This is an honor bestowed on him by his peers for his professional excellence.
Brad is a columnist for the New York Real Estate Journal’s “Ask the Expert” quarterly feature discussing current real property tax issues. Some issues addressed are Hurricane Sandy’s effect on property taxes, Nassau County’s Disputed Assessment Fund, emerging market trends, New York’s property tax rates, and how your purchase price can affect your taxes.
Brad has been an invited speaker and participant on various panels involving different subjects affecting tax certiorari and valuation of property such as condominiums, environmental contamination, and reviewing changes in the tax certiorari field. As a member of the Nassau and Suffolk Condemnation and Tax Certiorari committees, he has worked to implement changes to facilitate the timely resolution of commercial tax protests.
Brad currently serves as executive member of the steering committee and served as Co-President of the Long Island Real Estate Group for three years. This organization has supported various Long Island charities, as well as real estate related projects, educational real estate programs and networking events. He is Cofounder of the North Shore University Hospital Department of Medicine Leadership Circle Committee and serves on the Village of Plandome Planning Board.
Sean M. Cronin, Esq.
Sean M. Cronin is a founding partner at Cronin & Cronin Law Firm with over 20 years experience. He specializes in negotiating tax certiorari matters for prominent developers, national REITs and tenants in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, as well as the five boroughs. He is responsible for successfully reducing the assessments, and thereby the real estate taxes, on many of the largest properties in New York State thanks to his expertise in property valuation issues and knowledge of market conditions and demographics. His clients include developers and owners of all property types, including office buildings, industrial buildings, shopping centers and retail locations, restaurants, apartment buildings and condominium complexes, golf courses and assisted living facilities.
Sean is an Executive Board member and past Co-President of the Long Island Real Estate Group, a charitable organization created to support local communities. He is an Executive Board Member of Vision Long Island which advances more livable, economically sustainable, and environmentally responsible growth on Long Island through Smart Growth. Sean is an Advisory Board Member of the Viscardi Center and on the Board of Advisors of the Energeia Partnership. He is an active member of the Chaminade Lawyer’s Association and Real Estate Group as well as the Washington & Lee Alumni Association.
Sean is featured regularly in the New York Real Estate Journal’s “Ask the Expert” section and has been quoted in various publications, including the Long Island Business News and Newsday. He has been recognized by the Long Island Business News as a “Who’s Who in Commercial Real Estate” multiple times, most recently in 2023 and by the Long Island Herald as the Top Tax Certiorari Attorney in 2023.
