(Mineola, NY) In his first 100 days in office, Assessor Harvey B. Levinson has proven to be an unbridled advocate for the residents of Nassau County and has worked tirelessly to restructure departmental operations and improve the property assessment system.
In keeping with his Inaugural promises, Assessor Levinson embarked on an aggressive agenda aimed at restoring the public’s confidence in the Nassau County Department of Assessment’s ability to do its job and value property. His hands-on style of management and passion for constituent service has created a foundation of professionalism never before realized in the Department of Assessment.
“I believe that the programs and improvements that I have implemented during my first 100 days in office are a solid foundation for a successful and productive future for the Department of Assessment,” stated Assessor Levinson. “With the help of the professional team that I’ve assembled and through the cooperation of elected officials, community and business leaders throughout the County, I know that we will establish an assessment system that is fair and equitable for all property, home and business owners.”
LEVINSON’S FIRST 100 DAYS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Hiring a professional management team:
- Appointed certified assessment administration specialists to assume key supervisory positions.
- Created positions for two (2) key County Attorneys to help address thousands of certiorari cases and review property valuation procedures as mandated by New York State Real Property Tax Law.
- Appointed computer-programming experts who can take control of the Integrated Assessment System used by the County's reassessment contractor and maintain the public access Website, "mynassauproperty.com.".
Major reorganization of all divisions within the Department:
- Cross training of staff in Exemptions Division to help speed up the processing of applications.
- Re-training existing civil service field assessing personnel to conduct property appraisals.
- Hiring additional field appraisers to assume assessment functions currently handled by the County's reassessment contractor.
- Creation of a Taxpayer Assistance Division staffed by existing personnel.
Technology improvements:
- Elimination of the County's obsolete WANG computer system and replacing it with the state-of-the-art Integrated Assessment System.
- Expanding the use of the Cadastral Mapping/GIS System in assessment and public information applications in conjunction with existing County and contracted Websites.
Outreach:
- Establishing a dialogue with government associations, school boards, community groups, the media, business community, and homeowners through Town Meetings and bi-weekly conferences conducted at the office.
- Re-configuring the Department of Assessment Website to allow residents to download exemption forms.
- Integrate E-mail communications between the public and the Taxpayer Assistance Division.
- Allow year-round filing for all property exemptions.
- Establishing Saturday office hours during the peak filing periods in January and February.
Proposed and adopted legislative initiatives:
- Worked closely with State legislators in Albany to overturn an unintended multi-million dollar tax shift that resulted when the County set a level of assessment at 1% of full market value for Class 3 (Utilities) properties last year. The tax shift that impacted the owners of co-ops, condominiums and small business owners under the Long Beach School District's unique two-class property assessment system was remedied through special legislation.
- Presented a number of legislative initiatives to State delegation in Albany aimed at improving our current property assessment system and creating a transition period for those residential properties that experienced tremendous increases in their school, county and town property tax obligations.
The legislative proposal would allow for a multi-year phase-in of all increases in assessments that occur as a result of changes in the full market value for properties with an assessed value under $1 million dollars. Under current law, only Class 2 (Co-ops, Apartment Buildings and Condominiums greater than 3 stories) and Class 4 (Commercial) properties in Nassau County are subject to a multi-year phase-in of assessed value.
In addition, the proposed legislation would establish a cap that limits assessment increases to Class 1 (Residential) properties - commencing with the 2006-07 tax year - at 6% above the average increase in residential assessments.
The most significant change proposed by Assessor Levinson would be the elimination of the confusing fractional levels of assessment set each year, by using the full market value of a property. By eliminating the use of fractional assessment levels, home and business owners would be in a better position to equate their property's assessed values with the taxes they pay. Currently, each time the level of assessment is lowered by fractional levels, a taxing jurisdiction is forced to rapidly increase its tax rates to generate the same amount of revenue. If full market value is used for taxing purposes, tax rates will decrease significantly.
Financial
- The New York State Office of Real Property Services awarded a $500,000 grant to Nassau County in recognition of the Board of Assessors' and Administration's commitment to perform annual reassessments.
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