PRESIDING OFFICER NICOLELLO AND MAJORITY DELEGATION CALL FOR NEW LEADERSHIP FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ASSESSMENT
Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello and the members of the Nassau County Legislature’s majority delegation are calling for the immediate resignation of County Assessor David Moog or his removal by County Executive Curran.
“We do not take this action lightly and we understand how difficult a countywide reassessment is, especially in a county as large and diverse as Nassau. However, that the job is difficult does not change the fact that it must be done correctly,” said Presiding Officer Nicolello. “We have one opportunity to get this right, and thus far the process has been plagued by mismanagement and mistakes.”
Error after error – tens of thousands of them, missed deadlines, misleading and confusing information disseminated to the public, and a lack of transparency and accountability have eroded the public’s and our confidence in the reassessment process.
Our majority delegation has held numerous public meetings to help provide information and answer questions. Many more are planned. These meetings are filled with distressed residents who have difficulty understanding how their property values were determined, whether those values are accurate, and what to do to protect themselves.
Yet despite repeated requests for Assessor Moog to hold his own community meetings, he has not held a single one to date. He is simply not accountable.
In fact, County Executive Curran has now taken the extraordinary step of appointing a “Quality Assurance Monitor” to oversee the operations of the Department of Assessment who, in her words, would “babysit” the department. Her actions underscore the reality that the County Executive herself has lost confidence in her handpicked Assessor.
The county needs someone who can oversee a large and complex project, and the department administering it; not someone who needs a babysitter.
Public confidence in this reassessment has all but disappeared and something must be done. The correct course of action is clear.