Why Every Nassau County Homeowner Should Grieve Their Taxes

A property tax grievance is a formal complaint filed with a town (and sometimes a village) to contest the assessed value of a property. A property assessment is a value that ties the worth of a property to a tax bill dollar amount. Sometimes, though, an assessment does not correctly match the value of a home. In the scenario that your home is being assessed at a higher value than it is worth, you are eligible for a property tax reduction through this grievance process.

Nassau county property owners are in a unique position in New York for a few reasons.

First, Nassau owners can grieve every single year, regardless of whether or not they were granted a reduction in the year prior. This is an opportunity that we highly recommend taking full advantage of. It is important to grieve often in Nassau because, even more so than in other New York counties, your property tax bills are nearly always increasing. Each year, a property owner can expect increases in tax rates or assessment or even both. Tax rates can’t be contested, but assessments can and should!

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Second, most villages in Nassau County are actually self-assessing—meaning that they set their own assessments rather than using the town’s. Because the two municipalities may have different numbers, even if you are not over-assessed by your town, you may still be over-assessed by your village—or vice versa.

You should also be aware that village filings take place earlier in the year than town filings do, usually in February as opposed to March.

Third, and maybe most pressing of all—It’s important to bear in mind that your assessment indicates the portion of the town’s total budget that you are responsible for paying relative to all other Nassau homeowners. Suppose, then, that a number of owners reduce their assessments while yours stays the same. In this case, though your assessment has not changed, the dollar amount that you are paying will likely increase because your neighbors are paying less of the total budget. This is more than just a hypothetical; it’s a reality for a number of homeowners.

Of the 480,000 homes in Nassau County, 109,000 were granted a reduction for the 2021/2022 tax year. That’s just about a quarter of all homes and half of all grievances. If you are not one of them, you carry the tax burden.

Don’t pay more than your fair share when grieving is an option!

As in all New York counties, grieving your property taxes is a risk-free process with only two possible outcomes; either your assessment is decreased, or it stays the same and you can try again next year.