Curran Unveils Four New Developments in Reform of the Nassau County Assessment System
Extends assessment outreach; allows property inventory changes; unveils video tutorials; explains importance of using latest technology
“We have embraced big data in a big way.”
MINEOLA, NY—Nassau County Executive Laura Curran today revealed four important new developments in her reform of the County’s assessment system:
? Extension of assessment outreach offices until January 31, 2019
? Allowance for property inventory changes
? Premiere of two user-friendly video tutorials
? Explanation of the importance of big data in the reassessment
First, County Executive Curran urged property owners to take advantage of the extension of the availability of staff in the four satellite outreach offices that have been established throughout the County to continue to provide education and transparency in her efforts to fix the unfair and inaccurate property assessment system left behind by the prior administration. The offices will now remain open until January 31, 2019.
“We will remain ready and available to answer your questions,” said Curran. “At an outreach office, you can sit with Department of Assessment (DOA) staff, ask questions and understand the reassessment process and the impact it may have on your taxes for the 2020/2021 assessment roll. We have made it possible for every property owner to understand their reassessment through these outreach opportunities.”
More than 4,000 property owners have contacted or already visited the outreach offices, which still have 13,000-plus appointments open until January 31, 2019. Appointments can be made on-line by visiting and following the Schedule an Appointment link on www.askthecountyassessor.com or by calling (516) 571-4374.
Second, Curran revealed that she has directed DOA to make property inventory changes identified by taxpayers in time for the release of the tentative assessment roll on January 2, 2019, thereby saving residents from having to challenge their assessment due to an easily-fixable data discrepancy. Residents will now just have to certify an inventory correction to DOA staff in the next few weeks who will then make the change subject to a field inspection of the property. This is a key part of the County’s emphasis on quality control during the reassessment.
Examples of inventory corrections include the number of living units, total number of rooms, number of baths or fireplace stacks, number of stories, basement type, garages, building sketch, central air conditioning and or date of construction.
“As I stated when I assumed office last January, fixing the many problems that resulted from the ill-conceived eight-year assessment freeze was going to be an ongoing process,” said Curran. “In this case, residents will no longer have to file an assessment challenge just to address a factual inventory issue that can be fixed now. We expected errors along the way; we also expect to fix them.”
Third, the County Executive premiered two new, user-friendly video tutorials: one explaining how to read and understand tax impact notices and the second navigating through an assessment report generated by the County’s state-of-the-art Prognose software.
Both videos are available now on the County’s website at https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/4638/Ask-The-County-Assessor.
“The County has produced these new videos to provide yet another tool to make the reassessment as transparent as possible to residents,” stated Curran. “Taxpayers have a right to know how the reassessment impacts them and a right to have the process explained in an easily-understandable way.”
Fourth, Curran described how the County is using the latest technology to make assessments as accurate as possible and to make assessment information as available as possible. From the use of airborne flyover geo-mapping to sophisticated computer modeling, the County is taking advantage of modern and efficient assessment practices.
Curran explained, “We have embraced big data in a big way. We are confident that the County Assessor is producing an outstanding assessment roll utilizing the latest technologies. We are sharing this information with taxpayers at every opportunity to provide the utmost transparency.”
The accuracy of the new assessment roll has been verified by a renowned expert, Robert J. Gloudemans, and the County expects the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services to issue its confirmation by year end.
County Executive Curran emphasized that property owners will have the right to challenge their 2020-2021 tentative assessed values from January 2, 2019 through March 1, 2019 with the Assessment Review Commission (ARC). The application will be available and can be obtained on-line at nassaucountyny.gov/arc, in person at the Department of Assessment, or by contacting ARC at (516) 571-3214 after January 2, 2019. The Department of Assessment’s hours of operation are from 8 A.M. to 4:45 P.M.