Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips announced on Tuesday that her office has launched an audit of the county’s Department of Assessment over the handling of a countywide reassessment introduced by former County Executive Laura Curran.

The audit will cover the department’s application of the phase-in, which went into effect in the 2020-21 school tax year, and the assessment rolls for the years 2021 to 2024. Phillips said the audit “will help restore taxpayers’ confidence” in the county’s process to properly value residential properties.

“Nassau County taxpayers are confused and frustrated with our complex property assessment system,” said Phillips, the former Flower Hill mayor and state senator. “It’s my job, as the independent protector of Nassau County taxpayers and residents, to not only ensure that county departments are functioning properly and efficiently, but to see that taxpayers are being treated fairly.”

According to county data, 65 percent of Nassau County homeowners received increases in their school taxes compared with 35 percent who received reductions in December 2020.   Curran called for the reassessment of more than 385,000 homes in 2018 after the county’s assessment roll had been frozen since 2008. 

During that period, thousands of residents filed grievances on the value of their homes, winning reduced assessments and shifting the tax burden to others who did not challenge their assessments.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who has been critical of the reassessment process since announcing his candidacy for county executive last year, said the goal is to make the system “more fair, accurate and transparent” for Nassau’s residents.

“I want to commend Comptroller Phillips in fulfilling her promise to the taxpayers to do this reassessment audit,” Blakeman said. “Property assessment is one of the most important issues facing Nassau County right now. We know that the reassessment system and process is broken.”

“After years of misinformation and mistakes by the previous administration, which resulted in tax increases to 65% of homeowners, it is important that we use every means available to reform how the county assesses properties,” Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said. “The Legislative Majority remains committed to ensuring that the reassessment process is fair and transparent.”

Nassau County Legislator and Legislative Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport) said Curran went about addressing taxes “the best way she could.”

“I think all Nassau County residents realized the tax system that was in place before she got there was completely unfair,” he said.

In October, Republican officials called for an audit of alleged errors in the phase-in that could result in $50 million in overbilling if left uncorrected. Officials claimed the overbilling of more than 16,000 homes was caused by an error in calculating the assessed values of properties.

Despite claims of an erroneous assessment from Republican legislators, former county spokesperson Michael Fricchione said the majority was incorrect.