Taxing Levinson
01-17-2008, 06:32 AM
January 17, 2008
Search Newsday.com Web enhanced by Login or register Home Delivery Nassau property values rise on new assessment roll
BY CELESTE HADRICK | celeste.hadrick@newsday.com
8:39 PM EST, January 16, 2008
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Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Reprints Post comment Text size: The economic news is gloomy: House sales and prices are down. Retail sales are off, and some economists say a recession is imminent if not already here.
Nassau Assessor Harvey Levinson, however, contends in a new assessment roll that the value of residential and business property is up.
Levinson and the county's board of assessors issued a tentative roll Jan. 1 that shows Nassau's real estate is up 2.7 percent over last year to a total market value of $317.5 billion.
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Talk about it
But tell that to Nassau's homeowners whose property tax assessments went up:
"You are witnessing the incompetence and audacity of the ... Chief Assessor in his conclusion that property in Nassau County has increased in value in the face of the facts and newspaper reports that indeed just the opposite has taken place," Levittown homeowner Arnold Johnson complained in a letter to his state and federal elected representatives.
The Multiple Listing Service of Long Island reports that the median sale price of a Nassau residence dropped 4.8 percent last month over the year before.
"My clients resent that assessments are not reflecting reality," said Fred Perry, a Dix Hills lawyer who represents thousands of Long Island homeowners who challenge thr property taxes every year.
Nassau's new assessment roll, which will be used to help calculate 2009-2010 property tax bills when it becomes final next year, shows Nassau's home values have increased by $1.2 billion over last year, or .5 percent; the value of condominiums and co-ops jumped 10.7 percent, while commercial property values, which are based on a business' income and expenses rather than real estate sales, are up 9.1 percent.
Comparable data are not available in Suffolk, where the towns, not the county, assess property. Most Suffolk towns have not reassessed townwide in decades.
New York City's tentative property assessment roll for 2009, released this week, showed an overall market value increase of 1.44 percent. However, the value of Class One real estate -- one-, two- and three-family homes -- dropped 2.76 percent, according to the city's finance department.
Levinson acknowledged that home values have decreased in some areas, adding that almost half of Nassau's 383,000 homeowners recved notice of a drop in assessment.
The rest, however, went up. Most homes that increased in value this year, he said, had been under-assessed in the past because of a state cap on assessment increases.
The glitch goes back to the countywide reassessment completed in 2003. In response to a lawsuit, a court ordered Nassau to conduct its first reassessment in more than 60 years, and to reassess annually to reflect current market value. The order overrode a state law limiting assessment increases to 6 percent a year.
The court's oversight ended with the 2006-2007 assessment roll. Levinson said he applied the cap to the 2007-2008 roll even though market prices had jumped 15 percent. Despite a weakening market, he said half of Nassau's houses still have not caught up to thr true market value.
But Vincent Jambrone, who was notified this month that his Hicksville home had increased in value to $558,300 from $527,200, said he wished he could find a buyer at that price. "I offered to sell it to anybody over at the assessor's office," he said.
Levinson said he expects residential assessments will catch up to market value by next January. "If the market continues to soften," he said, "it is likely that most taxpayers will see substantial reductions."
The value of commercial property is based on how much income is generated from renting a business property, Levinson said. He said he had not seen any softening in commercial rental income.
Asked about Levinson's assessment of commercial values, Martin Lomazow, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis, said, "I think he was right up until August of 2007, when the debt market started to tremor."
Paul Amoruso, managing director of Oxford & Simpson Realty Services, Inc., had a similar view. "The commercial real estate market was strong in the first half of '07," he said. "The latter half of '07, the market slowed down substantially. In '08, a downturn is certainly expected."
Overall, he said, the problems in the housing market "are bleeding into the commercial sector. ... For example, Home Depot is less likely to expand. ... Mortgage companies are shutting down. ... It does have an impact and unfortunately the assessors are not seng it."
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Search Newsday.com Web enhanced by Login or register Home Delivery Nassau property values rise on new assessment roll
BY CELESTE HADRICK | celeste.hadrick@newsday.com
8:39 PM EST, January 16, 2008
Article tools
E-mail Share
Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Reprints Post comment Text size: The economic news is gloomy: House sales and prices are down. Retail sales are off, and some economists say a recession is imminent if not already here.
Nassau Assessor Harvey Levinson, however, contends in a new assessment roll that the value of residential and business property is up.
Levinson and the county's board of assessors issued a tentative roll Jan. 1 that shows Nassau's real estate is up 2.7 percent over last year to a total market value of $317.5 billion.
Related links
Talk about it
But tell that to Nassau's homeowners whose property tax assessments went up:
"You are witnessing the incompetence and audacity of the ... Chief Assessor in his conclusion that property in Nassau County has increased in value in the face of the facts and newspaper reports that indeed just the opposite has taken place," Levittown homeowner Arnold Johnson complained in a letter to his state and federal elected representatives.
The Multiple Listing Service of Long Island reports that the median sale price of a Nassau residence dropped 4.8 percent last month over the year before.
"My clients resent that assessments are not reflecting reality," said Fred Perry, a Dix Hills lawyer who represents thousands of Long Island homeowners who challenge thr property taxes every year.
Nassau's new assessment roll, which will be used to help calculate 2009-2010 property tax bills when it becomes final next year, shows Nassau's home values have increased by $1.2 billion over last year, or .5 percent; the value of condominiums and co-ops jumped 10.7 percent, while commercial property values, which are based on a business' income and expenses rather than real estate sales, are up 9.1 percent.
Comparable data are not available in Suffolk, where the towns, not the county, assess property. Most Suffolk towns have not reassessed townwide in decades.
New York City's tentative property assessment roll for 2009, released this week, showed an overall market value increase of 1.44 percent. However, the value of Class One real estate -- one-, two- and three-family homes -- dropped 2.76 percent, according to the city's finance department.
Levinson acknowledged that home values have decreased in some areas, adding that almost half of Nassau's 383,000 homeowners recved notice of a drop in assessment.
The rest, however, went up. Most homes that increased in value this year, he said, had been under-assessed in the past because of a state cap on assessment increases.
The glitch goes back to the countywide reassessment completed in 2003. In response to a lawsuit, a court ordered Nassau to conduct its first reassessment in more than 60 years, and to reassess annually to reflect current market value. The order overrode a state law limiting assessment increases to 6 percent a year.
The court's oversight ended with the 2006-2007 assessment roll. Levinson said he applied the cap to the 2007-2008 roll even though market prices had jumped 15 percent. Despite a weakening market, he said half of Nassau's houses still have not caught up to thr true market value.
But Vincent Jambrone, who was notified this month that his Hicksville home had increased in value to $558,300 from $527,200, said he wished he could find a buyer at that price. "I offered to sell it to anybody over at the assessor's office," he said.
Levinson said he expects residential assessments will catch up to market value by next January. "If the market continues to soften," he said, "it is likely that most taxpayers will see substantial reductions."
The value of commercial property is based on how much income is generated from renting a business property, Levinson said. He said he had not seen any softening in commercial rental income.
Asked about Levinson's assessment of commercial values, Martin Lomazow, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis, said, "I think he was right up until August of 2007, when the debt market started to tremor."
Paul Amoruso, managing director of Oxford & Simpson Realty Services, Inc., had a similar view. "The commercial real estate market was strong in the first half of '07," he said. "The latter half of '07, the market slowed down substantially. In '08, a downturn is certainly expected."
Overall, he said, the problems in the housing market "are bleeding into the commercial sector. ... For example, Home Depot is less likely to expand. ... Mortgage companies are shutting down. ... It does have an impact and unfortunately the assessors are not seng it."
More articles