Channel 4 WNBC-TV Interviewed Richard Fromewick

 

On January 7th, Richard Fromewick was interviewed by reporter Lori Bordonaro of Channel 4 WNBC-TV on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to cut taxes.

 

Click here to watch the video and read the full article.

 

Seeing Isn’t Always Believing

As the cliché goes, “you can’t trust everything you read,” and a glaring example of that is your real estate tax market value.

If you look online at the official Nassau County website, mynassauproperty.com, the market value of your residential property claims to be based on .25% and for commercial property at 1%. However, properties are really assessed much higher. When the Assessment Review Commission (ARC) or court hearings are set, we as attorneys are able to prove the assessment is based on a higher market value. Don’t be disheartened if you see that the assessor has your home’s market value as extremely low because in fact, it’s really much higher.

The relationship between assessments and market value changes every year based on sales in the County. An assessment might stay the same but the market value that the County is using might change. If you think the assessment on your home or business was based on $500,000, you might be satisfied not to complain. But if you found out the assessment was really based on a $600,000 value, you might want to file a complaint. New Nassau County assessments will be ready the first week of January 2014. That assessment should be checked for accuracy by an attorney experienced with tax certiorari proceedings.

Going on Two Years – No Refunds

There have been virtually no real estate tax refunds from Nassau County for the past two years. The refunds are due to residential and commercial taxpayers from Nassau County. The taxpayers successfully challenged their real estate tax assessments in tax certiorari proceedings. In some cases, the Assessment Review Commission (ARC) agreed to the over-assessments, while other proceedings were decided by hearing officers at Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR) hearings. Any proceedings that could not be settled administratively were negotiated and settled with the Nassau County Attorney’s office. A relatively few number of cases went to trial and judgments were handed down by the Supreme Court demanding refunds. It has been estimated that almost $400 million in refunds with interest have accumulated as a debt still to be paid.

On June 24, 2013, the Nassau County Legislature will once again have on its agenda a bond proposal to create a fund for infrastructure repair due to Hurricane Sandy and to pay the tax refunds. Here’s hoping a tax certiorari refund program can be agreed to in a non-partisan way.

Property Damaged by Sandy Will Impact Everyone’s Taxes

Everyone on Long Island, particularly those on the South Shore, should be aware of the possibility of some serious real estate tax increases.

Let’s start with some basic math. Tax rates are determined by the amount of real property tax assessments and the current budget.  If assessments are decreased, the tax rates must increase to cover the budget. 

The South Shore communities suffered great loss from super storm Sandy.  Many commercial properties were damaged along with residential property.  Real estate tax assessments will have to decrease for those damaged properties. Many other properties suffer substantial loss in market value by the stigma of being near areas that were flooded and may also receive assessment decreases. Less assessment means higher tax rates for all properties. To state it most simply; if your neighbor receives a tax assessment decrease and you don’t, their taxes might go down and your taxes might go up.  To protect yourself from these increases, you must have your tax assessment reviewed until the end of April 2013 in Nassau County and in May for Suffolk County, as there is only a short window to protest the assessment.

Damage report forms and tax reduction forms are available at www.mynassauproperty.com.

Real Estate Tax Reduction/Super Storm Sandy

I sincerely hope that each of you and your possessions are safe. My home and cars were damaged by the rising waters but those things can be replaced.

Many residential and business properties were physically damaged to a much greater extent. Since real estate tax assessments are based on market value, everyone should carefully evaluate any physical damage. Simple concise reports should be made directly to the Assessor and hopefully appropriate adjustments will be made to the tax assessments. However, these reports do not take the place of formal complaints/grievances that must be filed in January for Nassau and New York City and in May for Suffolk properties. Separate complaints must be made for property that is also taxed by a Village. If the assessment is not lowered or a formal complaint is not filed in a timely manner, the taxes will not be reduced regardless of the damage to the property.

Hurricane Sandy Notice for Nassau County

It is with a heavy heart that I write this blog post today. Our entire block and most of the neighborhood have lost their cars to the waters and still have no heat or power. We were warned not to start the cars – some of those who did, started electrical fires.

If your business or home has sustained physical damage, it should be reported by you directly to the Nassau County Department of Assessment at one of the following numbers: (516) 571-2002; 2003; 2008; 2016; 2025 or 2028. This is a separate and different reporting than the regular complaints that are filed each January. If further information becomes available, I will certainly pass that on as well. Good Luck!

Nassau County School Tax Increases

For many who received their Nassau County School Tax Bill in October, it was a terrible surprise. Although many assessments were reduced, those tax payers were not likely to see a reduction in their tax bill from the prior year. This is because commercial and residential tax rates were significantly increased, in some cases in upwards of 30%. If your real estate tax assessment did not decrease there was definitely an actual increase in the tax bill. These tax rate increases have created an unfortunate hall of mirrors for Nassau County taxpayers. Market values are down, real estate tax assessments are down, tax rates and tax bills are up.

To complicate matters, the ratio of assessment to market value has decreased for both residential and commercial properties. Therefore, the market values the taxes are based on is actually higher than the County reports on their website.

The County’s real estate tax system literally pits one neighbor against another. When a substantial amount of properties in a school district receive lower tax assessments, from either the Assessment Review Commission or Court tax certiorari proceedings, the other properties in the district must pick up the slack. District budgets must be covered one way or another. Of course, if everyone had a fair and equitable tax assessment the bills would be less volatile - tis a consumption devoutly to be wished.