With candidates vying for position as the new Nassau County Executive, which direction will your property taxes go in next?
November brings the next elections for Nassau County Executive. The position which heavily influences property taxes. So, without getting political, how are policies shaping up? What’s the one thing you can do now, and continue to do to reduce and keep your yearly property tax bills down?
Long Island’s Constantly Rising Property Taxes
For one reason or another property taxes across NY, and especially on Long Island and in Nassau County seem to always go up.
It doesn’t matter what tax ‘caps’ are set, which direction property values are actually going, the personal finances of residents, or how high the overall tax rate goes up. There always seems to be an excuse to raise them. Even when there are multi-billion dollar surpluses in government agency funds. Even when it isn’t announced in the news, we often find many of the little line items being raised, leading to larger bills.
School district taxes make up a huge portion of those bills. That surprisingly (or not) hasn’t changed after 18 months of lockdowns, closures, and far fewer pupils in classrooms. Even when some may consider it highly questionable if we need physical schools anymore, just like office buildings have become extinct.
The Most Expensive Peanuts
Recent Newsday Long Island coverage has highlighted the competing campaigns of current incumbent Laura Curran and aspiring contender Bruce Blakeman.
Curran has begun promising $375 checks to local property owners to combat high property taxes if she is elected.
Blakeman has rebutted that by calling it “peanuts.” Which of course seems to be the case. Especially when you consider that Curran was responsible for one of the most massive property tax hikes in the county’s history. One that resulted in many homeowners seeing annual bills spike by 50% or more. Equalling thousands of extra dollars per year, per household.
Being overcharged by $5,000 or more, and maybe getting $375 back probably doesn’t sound like a good deal to most people.
Broken Promises
In turn, Curran blames Blakeman for raising taxes during his stint in office in the 90s. Blakeman currently says he will use $120M in surplus government funds to reduce property taxes.
Sadly, it seems that while lowering and fixing the property tax system is always a big point when it comes to campaigning for local elections, the taxes always seem to go up for one reason or another.
The One Thing You Can Do To Cut Your Taxes Yourself
The great news is that you don’t have to just wait to see what the next County Executive will actually do. You can take control, and get your property tax bills and assessment lowered with the help of Property Tax Adjusters, Ltd. Given the recent huge surge in taxes, these savings can be quite substantial.