Nassau Lawmakers Decide To Put Assessor Position Up For A Vote

MINEOLA, NY — The Nassau County Legislature voted 11-8 on Monday to put forth a public referendum in June to consider changing the role of the county assessor back to that of an elected position.

The move, which was spearheaded by the law body’s Republican majority, follows a tumultuous period for the county’s Office of Assessments. The office, which falls under the administration of County Executive Laura Curran, drew criticism last fall from lawmakers who said the recent reassessment was ineffective and drove up residents’ property taxes.

County officials’ decision to remove phased in tax projections from online land records prompted a lawsuit. In court papers filed last week, county officials said they were working on restoring the projections.

Christopher Boyle, a spokesman for the Legislature’s majority, took a swipe at Curran, saying that if she is “so proud of her reassessment,” which has resulted in tax increases for 65% of property owners, she should welcome a referendum on whether Nassau should have an elected assessor, or a political appointee."

County spokeswoman Justine DiGiglio said the lawmakers have been “deliberately stalling” on the appointments of Robin Laveman as county assessor and Joan Quinn as assessment review commission chairperson.

While Curran is “focused on distributing life-saving vaccines to protect residents and bringing businesses back, the Republican majority remains focused on playing politics with property assessment,” DiGiglio said.

Curran plans to veto the bill, and a super-majority would be required to overturn the decision, Newsday reported.

The Legislature’s minority leader Kevan M. Abrahams (D – Freeport) said he and his fellow legislators in the Democratic caucus are confident voters will see right through the flawed proposal as an “obvious election-year stunt.”

He said the proposal “only served to further politicize the county’s assessments” and needlessly injected partisanship into a process that was already “badly damaged by the willful mismanagement” former County Executive Edward Mangano’s administration and the “tacit approval” of the Republican majority.

“Their proposal does nothing to fix that damage — it only seeks to paper over the wreckage they helped to cause,” he said. “Worst of all, it sets the stage for a return to the type of leadership that corrupted our tax rolls and resulted in the County hemorrhaging money in mass settlements.”