Nassau assessment lawsuit heads to state court

Hempstead homeowners who unsuccessfully sued Nassau County in federal court for allegedly creating a discriminatory property tax system have refiled the case in state Supreme Court.

U.S. Eastern District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall in March dismissed the plaintiffs' federal lawsuit. In her ruling, DeArcy Hall said the state court system, rather than the federal one, was the appropriate venue for the dispute.

Former Hempstead Mayor Wayne Hall Sr. filed the lawsuit in 2019, along with Hempstead property owners Reina Hernandez and Floridalma Portillo.

The case centered on former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano's decision to freeze the tax rolls for nearly a decade, beginning in 2010. The lawsuit argued the freezes disproportionately affected property owners in communities of color.

The freezes benefited property owners in wealthier white communities, where homes were appreciating more rapidly than in lower-income areas where people of color lived, the lawsuit said.  

Nassau County "imposed irrational and discriminatory policies and procedures in their property tax system that have shifted more than $1.7 billion in property taxes from wealthier, white communities in Nassau County to lower income, nonwhite communities," lawyers wrote in the new motion filed June 23.

County officials did not respond to a request for comment. In a 2021 court filing, Nassau's outside counsel, Regina Calcaterra, said the county's reassessment program that was completed in 2019 "resolved all issues raised by Plaintiffs in their Complaint," and that no legislation has been proposed to revert to the former system.

But that reassessment — the first in 10 years — has been followed by a string of freezes, the plaintiffs' lawyers noted.

Former County Executive Laura Curran, who ordered the reassessment, kept the rolls frozen for 2022-23 and 2023-24. Current County Executive Bruce Blakeman did the same for the 2024-25 tax year.

"Since announcing its purported transition to a new assessment system, the County has 'frozen' its reassessment of property values — meaning that the old, discriminatory, and unscientific property values would be used — in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024," the plaintiffs' lawyers wrote. "As such, it is currently unknown when, if ever, the County will implement its new property tax assessment system." 

In her ruling, DeArcy Hall noted that a similar lawsuit filed 23 years ago was resolved in a state court.

In Coleman v. Seldin, Nassau was ordered to create a new assessment roll that was “nondiscriminatory, scientific, equitable and based on fair market value.”

DeArcy Hall wrote: "Plaintiffs ask this Court to reinstate the Consent Decree, enacted by a New York state court, that Plaintiffs contend largely remedied the complained-of conduct in this suit — all while simultaneously complaining that New York courts are not equipped to hear Plaintiffs’ claims."

A 2017 Newsday investigation found that Nassau had created two different property assessment systems that were separate and unequal.

Sixty-one percent of property owners who appealed their assessments saw their tax bills rise only 5%, or by $466, over seven years. The 39% of property owners who did not appeal saw much larger tax increases, an average of $2,748, or a 36% jump.

The county's decision to freeze the tax rolls and grant automatic settlements to large numbers of protesters caused a $1.7 billion shift from property owners who appealed their assessments onto those who did not, the investigation found.

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.