Officials say 842 Nassau County residents received higher school tax bills than intended because of the misapplication of the Taxpayer Protection Program’s five-year phase-in.
Established in 2021, it provides property owners with exemptions on increases in their property’s value over a five-year period. Single-family homeowners were expected to receive a 40% exemption.
However, the exemption was accidentally withdrawn. This resulted in errors that, in at least one case, saw one homeowner’s first-half school tax bill increase by 62%. Nassau County Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams and other officials addressed the situation at a press conference Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, what we discovered, and not by the leadership of the administration but from our constituents, from people in the community, is that people have lost their exemptions,” said Abrahams. “The unfortunate thing is that neither the county executive nor anyone in assessment [ever] said anything to anyone.”
Property owners contacted their legislators after receiving their first-half school tax bills, claiming they owed more than they had expected. Scott Diamond, a Levittown resident who caught the error, had an increase of nearly 17% in his school tax bill when he should have had a 40% exemption.
“I went on the county website on Oct. 3. Like many owners, I was looking to see exactly what my school tax bill was going to be, and I was surprised that it went up more than 1%,” he said. “I’m a senior, I’m on a fixed income and this represented a $1,800 swing in my tax bill.”
In another example, the Bellmore home of former Assessment Review Commission Commissioner Jeff Gold increased from $16,694 to $27,047 — a 62% spike.
Diamond and Gold happened to be the founder and moderator of the Facebook community group, “Nassau Grieve Your Tax Assessment.” Their assessment expertise sped up the detection of this issue.
The affected families have received updated bills from the county Department of Assessment. A spokesperson for County Executive Bruce Blakeman said the employee who caused the error was disciplined.
School districts will still receive their entire tax levy. The county is required to pay any gap produced by correcting erroneous tax bills.
Abrahams and his fellow caucus members wrote to Acting Nassau County Assessor Matt Cronin Oct. 11 to demand an immediate investigation into the incident.
“It is our belief that an independent investigation is necessary,” said Abrahams, “so that the county can determine exactly what went wrong and implement all necessary corrective actions and best practices in the interest of preventing such a shocking error from occurring again.”
Officials urge residents to review their school tax invoices carefully. One should get in touch with their local legislator’s office if they see any inconsistencies.
