What's happening
This bill reforms Nassau County's property tax assessment refund process by implementing district-based tax credits, enhancing transparency, and preventing cross-district tax burdens.
Why it matters
Aligns refund responsibility with local tax districts. By ensuring that only property owners within the affected tax district and property class pay for assessment correction tax levies, this bill prevents one area's tax refund costs from being unfairly spread across unrelated districts, promoting fiscal fairness and local accountability.
Shifts from cash refunds to future tax credits. Instead of issuing immediate refunds for overassessed properties, the county will provide assessment correction tax credits applied to the following year’s property tax bill. This reduces the county's need to borrow money for refunds, potentially lowering interest costs and future tax burdens.
Mandates detailed transparency for taxpayers. Every property tax bill will include a clear breakdown of tax levies, rates, credits, and assessment correction costs for each district and property class. This helps taxpayers better understand how their taxes are calculated and exactly what they’re paying for.
Allows multi-year settlements using credits. The legislation enables the county to resolve long-running assessment disputes by applying tax credits over multiple years, which may facilitate quicker settlements and more predictable fiscal planning for both taxpayers and the county.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Fix Nassau Tax Refunds
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 8
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to local government
- Referred to local government
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1639
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 15, 2019
Introduced by Sen. BROOKS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
AN ACT to amend the Nassau county administrative code, in relation to levy and refund of real property taxes
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Nassau County Assessment Correction Act."
§ 2. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds that the property tax assessment refund program currently employed by the county of Nassau is deleterious to the county's fiscal health and unfair to county property taxpayers. By aggregating tax refunds from every taxing district into one new levy, the county improperly transfers tax obligations out of the originating tax district and onto all other tax districts in the county. As a result, taxpayers are in effect paying for services they do not receive. By failing to recognize that the tax rate should change as a result of the reduction in assessed value, the county overpays its refunds. This results in borrowing by the county and a further tax burden to fund interest payments on that borrowing. It is therefore the policy of the state that in cases where the tax levy was made using the incorrect assessed value, the county shall fund the assessment refund in the tax district and class of the original levy so that the properties whose assessments were reduced contribute toward the total refunds. Further, the county shall fund assessment refunds by means of a tax credit to eliminate the need for future borrowing. Finally, the county shall improve transparency of both taxation and assessment corrections by placing on each property taxpayer's bill the amount of tax levies, refunds and the cost of those refunds for each tax district and class.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06847-01-9
S. 1639 2
§ 3. Chapter 272 of the laws of 1939, constituting the Nassau county administrative code, is amended by adding a new section 6-42.0 to read as follows:
§ 6-42.0 Assessment correction tax credit and levy. a. Definitions:
1. For any tax district and class, the "assessment correction tax credit" is the amount constituting the difference between an original assessed value of a property and the corrected assessed value, determined pursuant to § 6-40.3 and § 6-40.4, multiplied by the original tax rate.
2. Within any tax district and class, the "assessment correction tax levy" is the cumulative total of assessment tax credits for a taxable year, excluding any interest or penalty payments that have been applied.
b. Every property tax district in Nassau County shall also be a Nassau County tax assessment correction district. The Nassau County legislature shall be the taxing authority for Nassau County tax assessment correction districts.
c. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the procedure for refunds for overpayment of real property taxes due to a correction of assessment, pursuant to § 6-40.3 and § 6-40.4, shall be as follows:
1. Beginning with the tax year two thousand twenty and every tax year thereafter, an assessment correction tax credit shall be awarded to the aggrieved person or corporation, to be applied against real property taxes owed the following year.
2. On August 1, 2020, and on such date every year thereafter, the Assessor's Office shall report to the Legislature the assessed value for all taxable real property and a list of all assessment correction tax credits by property class to be awarded for the upcoming tax year.
3. On August 15, 2020, and on such date every year thereafter, the Legislature shall approve the list of assessment correction tax credits, thereby establishing the assessment correction tax levy, and return such assessment correction tax levy to the Assessor's Office.
4. The Assessor's Office shall apply the assessment correction tax levy for each tax district and class.
d. For every tax bill rendered for taxes on real property for school districts due October 1, 2020 and every due date thereafter, and for such tax bills of any other taxing jurisdiction issued for taxes due December 1, 2020 and every due date thereafter, there shall be included in a prominent and itemized section providing the following information:
1. the overall tax levy for the tax district;
2. the tax rate for each property class in the tax district and class;
3. the assessment tax credit for the taxable property;
4. the assessment correction tax levy for each tax district and class; and
5. the net tax payment on the taxable property.
e. Jurisdictional and property class restrictions:
1. For each tax district and property class, the assessment correction tax levy shall be paid only by the property owners within that district and class.
2. The liability for the assessment correction tax levy of any individual class shall not extend to property owners of any other class, nor shall such liability of property owners within any district extend to property owners of any class outside the jurisdictional boundaries of such district.
f. Nassau County shall continue to be responsible for the payment of any interest and penalties associated with adjustments in assessment values or past borrowing undertaken to pay assessment refunds.
S. 1639 3
g. The county is hereby authorized to enter into multi-year tax settlement cases, utilizing assessment tax credits to fund corrections across multiple tax years.
§ 4. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2020.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the Nassau county administrative code, in relation to levy and refund of real property taxes
Purpose
The purpose of this bill is to correct Nassau County's procedure for refunding incorrect assessments.
Summary of provisions
Section 1. establishes the "Nassau County Assessment Correction Act."
Read the full memo (687 words)
Section 2. presents legislative findings and intent.
Section 3. amends the Nassau county administrative code by adding a new section 6-42.0 which provides for an assessment correction tax credit and levy. This section prospectively establishes a new methodology for assessments in Nassau County which will utilize a revenue-neutral levy and credit. Further, this section authorizes Nassau county to engage in multi-year settlements for tax cases using this program.
Section 4. is the enacting clause.
Justification
The Nassau County Assessment Correction Act (NCACA) reforms the county's procedure for refunding incorrect assessments.
Nassau County is unique in New York State in its use of four different tax class and its responsibility to establish assessed values for all real property in the county through the county's Department of Assess- ment. The "County Guarantee," passed in 1948, obligates the county to ensure the accuracy of the assessed value of all property in the county. This requires the county to refund overpayments when the assessed value of real property has been adjusted after the tax levy has been estab- lished for a given tax year.
Nassau County's current system for issuing these refunds is problematic. The Department of Assessment determines the overpayment amount by multi- plying the reduction in assessed value for a given property by the tax rate - the tax rate being derived from the tax levy. All of these reductions - for each district and tax class - are added together to determine the total amount of refunds owed per the "county guarantee." By treating this as a new levy instead of as an adjustment of the previ- ous levy, the total tax levy is increased. The reduction in total assessed value, meanwhile, results in an increase in the tax rate in order to meet the tax levy. Using this higher rate as a multiplier results in overpayments, with the county borrowing to cover the short- fall.
An additional problem results from Nassau County combining all of these owed refunds into one large, additional levy: it shifts the tax obli- gation from one tax district or class to another.
The NCACA seeks to address each of these problems. It provides a tax credit in an amount equal to that produced by the way assessment refunds are currently calculated. This credit against the following year's tax rolls would be given to taxpayers who have overpaid relative to their corrected assessed value. There is also a tax levy made at the tax district and tax class level, in the total amount of credits and refunds (given for properties where there has been a change of ownership) for each tax district and class. This levy would ensure that those taxpayers receiving refunds would be contributing toward them. This is a revenue neutral tax, levied by Nassau County in fulfillment of the county's obligation under the "guarantee." The same method would be use for every tax district and class in the county, including town, fire district, park and police district taxes. This has the effect of correcting the overpayment at the time when the NCACA tax levy is made and ensures that only the properties benefiting from the services provided by the tax district are funding the tax.
Further, the NCACA allows Nassau County to clear a substantial backlog of pending tax cases by permitting the county to make multi-year settle- ments rather than settling these cases one year at a time, using the Assessment Correction Tax Credit on future taxes to fund the corrections.
By utilizing a rational system that accurately determines refund amounts and keeps them within the tax district and class that paid them, Nassau County can improve its fiscal health while providing greater fairness to property taxpayers.
Fiscal implications
None to the state
Effective date
This act shall take effect on January 1, 2020.
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