At one point in the not too distant past the median home price in Nassau County was $500,000. As of September 2007, the contracted median home price in Nassau County was $445,000, a decline of 11 percent. Has the assessed value of your home decreased accordingly? Evidently, for many, it has not. The overwhelming percentage of homeowners in New York State who dispute their property tax assessments come from Nassau County even after a court-ordered countywide reassessment was mandated more than a half a decade ago.

Remember, when the reassessment scheme was mandated, there was no cap on how high your assessment could rise in any given year. Or was there? State law indicates that your assessment cannot rise by more than 6 percent in any one year or 20 percent in any one five-year period. This is indicated in your "Notice of Tentative Assessed Value for "2007/2008" and "2008/2009." But this was not indicated on your "Notice of Tentative Assessed Value for "2004/2005" or "2005/2006" or "2006/2007." The county assessor chose to establish assessed values at 1.00 percent of market value in 2004/2005, 0.50 percent of market value in 2005/2006 and 0.25 percent of market value for 2006/2007, 2007/2008 and 2008/2009. By dropping the assessed value percentage from 1.00 percent to 0.50 percent and then to 0.25 percent the county assessor was able to circumvent the letter and the spirit of applicable state law.

As a result, many tens of thousands of homeowners in this county, like you, saw their assessment rise above the caps state law imposes. It was a legal slight of hand that has put many in a situation of financial uncertainty. In Nassau County we have the largest inventory of homes for sale since these types of records have been kept. Why? We have an inequitable county assessment, coupled with property taxation by some levels of government that is not sustainable.

The county assessor says that freezing the assessment roll for five years would cause the assessment roll to be inaccurate, inequitable and will violate the spirit of the settlement that was agreed to in NYS Supreme Court. If the current assessment roll is accurate and equitable, how come 84 percent of all assessment challenges in New York State occur in Nassau County?

Edward W. Powers