Tax time: Now or never for realty assessment appeals

While paying real estate taxes may be inevitable, no one should pay more than their fair share.

“It’s all about fairness,” said attorney Shalom Maidenbaum, whose Cedarhurst-based Maidenbaum Property Tax Reduction Group LLC challenges Nassau County property tax assessments that are the basis for future tax bills. “We work as aggressively as we can to have our clients pay the fairest amount,” he said.

With the March 2 deadline to appeal the current round of assessments just days away, many taxpayers are focusing on a system that is as inscrutable as it is straightforward.

Each January, property owners in Nassau County receive a proposed assessment of their property’s worth; these assessments (or revised assessments determined during a 13-month-long review process) are the basis for tax bills that won’t start arriving until more than 10 months later. (The January 2015 assessment is effective for the 2016-17 tax year, starting with the October 2016 school tax bill.)

Homeowners who want to challenge their assessment through Maidenbaum should contact the firm by Friday, Feb 27. 

The 15 month review period provides for what Maidenbaum described as an administrative review process that may resolve most grievances; should the administrative determination be unsatisfactory, litigation may follow, prolonging the process, he said.

When Maidenbaum — whose parents were among the Five Towns’ frum pioneers, moving from Boro Park in 1956 — began reducing property taxes 25 years ago, “more people were dramatically over-assessed, but taxes were much lower” so they weren’t as reactive to being overcharged, he said. That’s changed as “we have helped raise homeowner awareness.”

With Nassau County homeowners among the highest taxed in the country, people are sensitive when their tax bills rise. Maidenbaum’s team of attorneys and advisers is laser focused on insuring that the assessment, which is the underpinning of the property tax system, is fair to their clients.