In July of 2010 Nassau County executive Ed Mangano approved a new measure for Nassau commercial property owners to grieve their taxes. The new law, "Local Law 12" streamlines the process for owners to obtain relief from taxes if the minimum burden of proof is met, as stipulated in the law. The County of Nassau must respond to submissions within 150 days. However, only one firm submitted cases in this manner.
Real Estate Assessment Group saw an opportunity with this law, and took advantage of it.
George Clarke an attorney at the firm, along with Mark Davella, a licensed appraiser, and commercial broker evaluated many cases, and submitted two of them under this new law. The results that followed were swift, fair and just.
The first submission was a case that had been in the system for over seven years from a landlord with a known certiorari firm. Real Estate Assessment Group had a certified appraisal done for the client, and was able to reduce the coming 2012-2013 clients' taxes by 25%. Additionally, the certiorari filings from 2003 until 2010 by the old firm are also still active with the courts for a possible further reduction.
The second submission was an owner/user of a class 4 property that had never filed a grievance before. This client was also given relief in the amount of 20.3% on the 2012-2013 taxes.
Neither one of the successful submissions were put under a moratorium, and if the market continues to decline, the cases, if warranted, can be resubmitted for further reductions.
According to Davella, the law is meant to grant immediate relief to those in the system that may be unfairly assessed. Additionally the law also supports the spirit of the local economy by granting a summary reduction without having to go through 5, 6, 7 even 8 years in a formal certiorari filing, thus keeping local business people, and small to medium landlords operational.
In the spirit of the law, if an owner/user can save $25,000 - $70,000 annually, how many jobs can be created? How many more months can the owner stay in business? How much does the government save by not having to pay unemployment?
The deadline for submissions for the 2013-2014 tax year is October 1, 2011. The entire submission must be complete to qualify under Local Law 12. Tags: