For the fourth straight year, Nassau County has chosen to freeze its annual tax roll

For the fourth straight year, Nassau County has chosen to freeze its annual tax roll. While freezing property tax rolls has proven to be popular with voters over the years, extended freezes only distort valuations and erode the overall accuracy of the tax roll. Nassau County assessments frozen for 4th straight year

Since New York state law requires assessors to set assessments at a uniform percentage of value each year, frozen assessments prevent the assessor from properly reflecting market increases and decreases in the assessment. Nassau County’s penchant for freezing tax rolls, coupled with statutory caps on annual assessment increases, has created a situation where assessments are now often wildly inaccurate and lead to property owners significantly overpaying their property taxes. Another reason for the freeze? Nassau homeowners are in the final year of a five year phase-in from the last county-wide reassessment in 2020. Accordingly there will be plenty of tax increases across the board, but without the freeze they could have been much worse. All of this ultimately points to the need for major corrections to the Nassau County tax roll down the road.

Perhaps the only good news for property owners in Nassau County this winter? The filing deadline to protest your assessment has been extended from March 1st to March 18th. Assessment Review Commission | Nassau County, NY – Official Website (nassaucountyny.gov)

With everything going on in Nassau County these days, an attentive property owner may want to consult with an experienced attorney before the filing deadline passes.