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Partly Cloudy Protesters lobby against property-tax plan
Dozens of protesters from throughout Nassau County converged on the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building in Mineola on Monday morning to see whether the county Legislature would vote on a proposal to nix the county’s guarantee that it will pay for challenges to property owners’ assessments.
According to the proposal, school districts and local governments would have to defend the county’s assessments and pay for successful challenges by property owners. The plan, proposed by County Executive Ed Mangano, a Republican from Bethpage, in his 2011 budget, has met stiff opposition from school district officials and PTAs since it was recently announced.
Many members of Bellmore-Merrick school districts were present to rally against Mangano’s proposal, including North Bellmore School District Superintendent Arnold Goldstein, as well as representatives from the Lakeside, Birch and Chatterton PTAs, and a representative from M.O.M.S (Mothers of Merrick Speak out).
“The county makes the assessments,” Goldstein said. “And now they're asking us to hear those appeals in which we have no basis for doing. We really can't afford that and it's not fair.”
If passed, the proposal would effectively shift the assessment burden from the county to the local level, which could have significant ramifications for school districts, according to Goldstein.
“You have to pay back the money that comes out of your taxes,” he said. “You have to hire someone to do the assessments to see if they're correct or not, and there's legal fees that go with that. That's not what school districts do. That's not what I do.”
Protesters gathered in front of the Executive and Legislative building were met by a counter-protest by more than two dozen people in favor of Mangano’s newly proposed budget, including his proposal to eliminate the county guarantee.
Meanwhile, inside the building, hundreds of people waited outside of the hearing, unable to gain entrance since the room was filled to its capacity of 150 people. A television screen showed the proceeding live so that people could be kept in the loop. Many sat intently in front of the screen, including members of the Merrick School District PTA.
