In a mailing to constituents, Nassau County Legislator Vincent Muscarella wrote, "I voted against reassessment and have been a strong opponent of this process since the beginning."
Sadly, Legislator Muscarella has forgotten that Nassau County's previous property assessment system discriminated against minorities and other homeowners who were paying a higher share of taxes than those in more affluent areas because taxes were based on 1938 building costs.
The county had no choice but to update assessments because the state Supreme Court ruled that the county's property tax system was unconstitutional. Charles O'Shea, who headed the board of assessors at the time, was ordered by the court to institute a market-based assessment.
It was O'Shea, a Republican, who selected the contractor and issued the specific rules for reassessing all real property.
Reassessment can change the distribution of taxes within a district, particularly for residents who expanded their homes without permits and had thus been underpaying their share of taxes. But only school board have the direct responsibility for increasing school spending, which absorbs nearly 65 percent of a homeowner's property tax payments.
Freezing assessment does not translate into freezing taxes. This only confuses taxpayers and takes attention away from the real problem of reducing spending. Even if property assessment values remain unchanged, the average homeowner would still be hit with school and local tax hikes each year.
Newsday has called the Republican proposal to freeze property assessments "stupid public policy."
Legislator Muscarella and his colleagues on the County Legislator should find "an intellectually honest" issue as Newsday suggested, and concentrate their efforts on capping property taxes to ease the crushing burden on homeowners.
George Rand
The writer is a resident of Franklin Square
