Is your tax assessment off? Prove it.

    In keeping with his promise to reform Nassau County’s tax assessment system, County Executive Edward Mangano is now tackling the commercial property assessment process.
    In mid-April, Mangano signed two executive orders he called “emergency measures” to fix what he describes as Nassau County’s “broken” property tax system. Not even three months later, he joined members of an Assessment Reform Team to introduce legislation requiring commercial property owners to file formal paperwork with their assessment grievances. The measure is intended to help reduce the loss of some $250 million in taxpayer money every year.
    “This is a giant step taken towards fixing the broken assessment system in our county,” Mangano said at a news conference on June 29. “Reform of this broken assessment system is critical to getting Nassau County’s finances back on track.”
    Mangano’s announcement came as county Comptroller George Maragos released the findings of an audit for the 2009 fiscal year, which included massive borrowing, deferral of expenses and non-recurring revenue items that left the county with a $1.2 million budgetary surplus instead of a $250.3 million structural deficit.
    The commercial property tax assessment reform calls for a more efficient method of handling grievances that will resolve commercial cases more quickly — before a tax roll is finalized. Essentially, commercial property owners who file grievances will also be required to submit certified appraisals or good-faith offers of settlement — within 87.5 percent of the original assessment — to the Assessment Review Commission. Otherwise, they must withdraw the grievance and agree not to file a judicial challenge to the assessment. Failure to do one or the other could result in a $4,000 fine. Within 150 days, the Assessment Review Commission must accept the offer or make a counteroffer to the property owner.