Homeowners to play more active role in Nassau assessment changes

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran has announced plans to allow residents to play a more active role in the county's ongoing assessment changes.
Curran says that while her news conference Wednesday had already been scheduled, it did come after weeks of criticism from Republican lawmakers at the county and town level regarding her executive order to reassess county properties.
Curran came out with a four-point plan designed to better help residents understand what is happening to their property tax bill.
The plan includes extended office hours for people who want to speak with the assessor or someone in the assessor's department and the allowance for property inventory changes. People will be able to go online and adjust anything to do with their property -- like the number of bathrooms in a home, for example. The county would then verify those changes.
"No longer will residents have to file an assessment challenge just to address these very simple, factual inventory issues, which can be fixed now," Curran says. "We expected errors along the way, and, of course, we expected that we would be fixing them."
One of the chief critics of the assessment process is Hempstead Receiver of Taxes Don Clavin, who has specifically criticized County Assessor David Moog. When News 12 asked Curran and Moog about the criticism, Moog said Clavin should "stay in his lane."
Clavin called Moog's comments offensive and an "insult to taxpayers." He continues to call for Curran to hold public meetings with residents.
As part of the plan unveiled Wednesday, assessment outreach offices will stay active through January.