I am sure most, if not all, residents in the Village of Garden City have received their new Nassau County tax assessments. For some residents these new assessments bring good tidings in the form of reduced property assessments.

For those residents fortunate enough to have received reductions and who may be contemplating a petition seeking a reduction of their village assessments, I would like to share my experience with you concerning the Village Assessor's policies and practices with respect to tax grievances, which you might find incredible; but sadly for our village, true.

Last February I went to village hall to obtain a petition and instructions for filing a tax grievance. I was given a form with instructions as promulgated by New York State pursuant to Real Property Law §524.

With the petition I submitted, as it was my burden, proof of what I claimed was the property's current market value. Thereafter, I received a letter from Robert Schoelle, the village administrator/assessor, requesting a list of documents necessary to support the petition. I was given four business days to respond or risked an outright denial of the petition.

Pursuant to Mr. Schoelle's request, I submitted my response. Along with my response, I requested from the Village Assessor certain basic information concerning their assessment, including a statement of the village's estimate of the full market value of the property; the manner in which the village computed the claimed value; the basis for the increase in the assessment by almost 55 percent from the previous year and a copy of all appraisals of the subject premises performed by the village in arriving at the new increased assessment.

Pursuant to §526 of the RPTL and paragraph 7 under Complaint Procedure of the instructions provided to me by the Village Clerk, the Board of Assessors was required to mail to each complainant a notice of the board's determination. The statute further provided that the board's notice must contain a statement of the reasons for the board's determination.

Inasmuch as the notice requirement imposed upon the village could not be more clear or unambiguous, I waited for their response. Some months later, I received from Cole Layer Trumble notice that the county had reassessed the subject property at or very close to the market value claimed in my petition submitted to the village in February.

Since I had not yet received the village's determination on my petition, I telephoned the assessor's office to see if I could supplement my petition with the recently received objective assessment performed by Cole Layer.

To my absolute astonishment, Mr. Frank Kelly, of the assessor's office, advised that my petition had been denied. I advised Mr. Kelly that I had not received notification of the denial from the village as set forth in the instructions for filing and as required by New York State law.

Mr. Kelly then advised that the village was aware of the notice requirement but despite the duty imposed upon the village to notify petitioners of their determinations, it was not the village's policy to send such notification to petitioners advising of their denial - much less advise petitioners of their reasons for their denial.

Mr. Kelly went on to say that upon the advice of counsel there was no penalty to the village for failing to give the required notice and thus they had decided not to send the notices. He then went on to advise that my time for filing an appeal from their denial had expired and that I would have to wait until next year to re-file.

I was in utter awe at Mr. Kelly's or the village's complete disregard for its citizens' right to receive due process in the form of notification of their determination. For without notice of the Board of Assessor's denial, a timely appeal was foreclosed and an unfair tax was imposed.

At the very least, it is this writer's opinion that the village and its Board of Assessors owes to its citizenry notification of their determinations and I see no valid justification for failing to do so and for failing to comply with the law.

So, if you are contemplating submitting a petition for a reduction of your village taxes, which is due Tuesday, Feb. 18, I suggest you call the village each day after filing and speak to Mr. Schoelle or a representative of the Board of Assessors until a determination has been made to ensure that you receive notice of their determination - thus preserving your right to appeal. If you don't, the village will undoubtedly continue to ignore the notice requirement imposed upon them pursuant to the statute and you, the taxpayer, will unwittingly forfeit your right to an appeal from a tax which, in the end, may be unjustly imposed.

Alison D. Metzler