Terms You Should Know

Assessors: The elected Chairman and appointed members of the Board of Assessors. They are legally responsible for valuing all real property within the Board's jurisdiction.

Assessment: The valuation of real property for tax purposes.

Assessment Roll: The official listing of the assessed value of all real property within the Board of Assessors jurisdiction.

Board of Assessors: A board consisting of a Chairman elected by all the county's voters and four members appointed by the County Executive and approved by the County Legislature. The County Charter requires that two of the members be from the Town of Hempstead, the most populous town and one each from the towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay. The Board elects one of its members as Vice Chairman.

Department of Assessment: The department headed by the Chairman of the Board of Assessors.

Direct Assessments: Direct charges against property included in the total tax bill, but not based on assessed value. For example: charges for sidewalk and curb repair and maintenance, delinquent water bills, demolition of dangerous structures, weed and brush removal, etc.

Equalization Rate: A rate established by the NYS Office of Real Property Tax Services to show the relationship between average assessment value of all property and full market value of all property in each taxing jurisdiction.

Grievance Period: The period during which taxpayers may protest the assessed value placed on their real property.

Residential Assessment Ratio: A rate established by the NYS Office of Real Property Services to show the relationship between the average assessment value of Class I property and the average sale price of those Class I properties that sold in the past year.

Small Claims Assessment Review: A special small claims court established to hear challenges to the assessment of owner-occupied one, two and three- family houses and residential condominiums of three stories or less.

Tax Rate: A rate per one hundred dollars of assessed value expressed in dollars and cents. Each local governing body - county, town, school and special district - determines its own budget. The amount to be raised by taxes, divided by the assessed value from the jurisdiction would equal the tax rate per $100 of assessed valuation.