Bruce Blakeman freezes Nassau assessments 

Nassau County has frozen its tax rolls for a third consecutive year, which could delay county efforts to bring property values up to date and also boost inequities in taxpayer assessments.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and acting Assessor Matthew Cronin have frozen the tax rolls for the 2024-25 school year, keeping more than 385,000 residential properties at values last calculated in late 2019. 

The new freeze represents a setback to the county's efforts to keep property values up to date.

It also could spur more taxpayers to challenge their assessments, which in previous years caused the tax burden to shift to those who don't file grievances.

The most recent reform to the assessment system came in 2018, when then-County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat, ordered a reassessment of all properties following a decadelong freeze of values.

The new values took effect for the 2020-21 tax year. The next year, assessors updated property values slightly to keep pace with the market.

But Curran ordered the rolls completely frozen for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 tax years, citing instability in the housing market during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Large numbers of New York City residents moved to Nassau and Suffolk counties during the pandemic.

As interest rates reached record lows, buyers engaged in bidding wars that drove home prices to record highs.

Now, county officials and assessment experts say Nassau must figure out a way to accurately measure home values and cope with a real estate market that has changed. 

The latest freeze "is putting all of the hard work and money that was put into the new assessment that much out of whack, and guarantees that unless you grieve your taxes, you're going to be paying more than your fair share," Nassau County Legis. Debra Mulé (D-Freeport) told Newsday.

Larry Clark, the retired director of strategic initiatives for the nonprofit International Association of Assessing Officers, said freezing values "assumes that there's absolutely no change in the market from the year that the values were set, through the year that the values were frozen — and that's just not true."

"Property values change over time, and they change at different rates depending on the neighborhoods, and location of the property. If you don't track those changes, then inequities result," he told Newsday.

Blakeman, a Republican, and Cronin cited several reasons for the freeze, including a Jan. 12 audit of Curran's program by GOP county Comptroller Elaine Phillips. It said the Curran administration relied on "flawed data" and made 23,000 last-minute changes before the roll went live.

Blakeman said the "'phase in' of assessment changes implemented by the previous administration exacerbated profound disparities. The COVID pandemic further destabilized the real estate market and associated home values. Accordingly, this administration has taken a course of action that facilitates stability and provides greater certainty for our taxpayers."

David Moog, who served as county assessor under Curran, has said all changes were made to improve the accuracy of the roll.

Program audit

Immediately after he defeated Curran in 2021, Blakeman asked Phillips to audit Curran's handling of the overall reassessment program.

The yearlong audit criticized former county officials for relying on data such as outdated property sales numbers, and allocating too little time for the overhaul.

But Phillips did not dispute the overall accuracy of Curran's program.

The tentative roll was released on Jan. 3. Earlier this week, the Blakeman administration postponed the deadline for filing challenges to April 3, from March 1.

Cycle of challenges, inequities 

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After former County Executive Edward Mangano froze the tax rolls in 2011, Nassau began granting automatic settlements to property owners who filed challenges.

As a result, the tax burden shifted onto those who did not challenge their assessments, experts found. 

From 2012-13 through 2019-20, Nassau settled 80% of the nearly 1.3 million challenges filed.

The figure dropped to 26% in 2020-21 after reassessment and 48% in 2021-22. 

The figure was 73.6% for 2022-23, under a final roll published by the Blakeman administration last year.

Lucrative industry nets political giving

Law firms that challenge assessments made $500 million in fees from 2012 to 2019, the Nassau County Comptroller's Office found in 2021.

The Committee for Fair Property Taxes, a political action committee funded by heads of tax firms, donated $382,275 to Republican campaign committees, candidates and elected officials in Nassau County in 2022. 

The committee gave $43,000 to Blakeman's campaign, $8,000 in 2022 and $35,000 in 2021. 

The PAC gave the Nassau County Democratic Committee $6,500 in 2018 and $75,000 in 2019, state campaign finance records show.

The PAC gave $20,000 to Curran's campaign for Nassau County executive in 2017.

Amanda Henning Santiago, a spokeswoman for the Fair Assessment Committee, said "administrations from both parties have made the decision to pause updates based on each year's circumstances. Regardless of what happens, we will continue to advocate on behalf of taxpayers and support candidates in both parties who protect the rights of taxpayers."

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.