LEGISLATOR RHOADS AND MAJORITY DELEGATION CALL FOR NEW LEADERSHIP FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ASSESSMENT
Legislator Steve Rhoads and the members of the Nassau County Legislature’s majority delegation are calling for the immediate resignation of County Assessor David Moog or his removal by County Executive Curran.
“We asked this Administration for transparency, accuracy and fairness in the reassessment process on behalf of our residents,” Legislator Rhoads said. “At this point, I think it’s fair to say that we have all been disappointed in every conceivable way. Just two days ago, I received my Notice of Tentative Assessment from the County Executive and the County Assessor which told me that the deadline to grieve was March 1, 2019, when it was announced weeks ago that the deadline was supposedly extended to April 30th. No communication; No public outreach; over 200,000 errors; no accountability and misleading and simply wrong information being sent to residents on a continuous basis. Enough is enough. Nassau County residents shouldn’t have to pay for “babysitters”. It is time for the County Assessor either resign or be removed by the County Executive.”
Error after error – tens of thousands of them, missed deadlines, misleading and confusing information disseminated to the public, and a lack of transparency and accountability have eroded the public’s and our confidence in the reassessment process.
Our majority delegation has held numerous public meetings to help provide information and answer questions. Many more are planned. These meetings are filled with distressed residents who have difficulty understanding how their property values were determined, whether those values are accurate, and what to do to protect themselves.
Yet despite repeated requests for Assessor Moog to hold his own community meetings, he has not held a single one to date. He is simply not accountable.
In fact, County Executive Curran has now taken the extraordinary step of appointing a “Quality Assurance Monitor” to oversee the operations of the Department of Assessment who, in her words, would “babysit” the department. Her actions underscore the reality that the County Executive herself has lost confidence in her handpicked Assessor.
The county needs someone who can oversee a large and complex project, and the department administering it; not someone who needs a babysitter.
Public confidence in this reassessment has all but disappeared and something must be done. The correct course of action is clear.