Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR) on Long Island

You can’t ask for a bigger reduction than you asked for at your grievance, and you can’t change the amount after you file. If the home’s equalized value is over $450,000, the reduction you ask for also can’t exceed 25% of the assessment. The hearing officer can’t lower the assessment below what you claimed, so choose the number carefully.

File one petition per parcel with the Suffolk County Clerk. E-filing through NYSCEF lists the homeowner as petitioner and the town (or village) as respondent; homeowners representing themselves may file on paper instead. Within 10 days of filing, send a copy of the signed petition to:

• the clerk of the town (or other assessing unit), by certified mail or in person;
• the assessor or chair of the board of assessors;
• the clerk of your school district;
• the Suffolk County Comptroller, 330 Center Drive, Riverhead, NY 11901;
• the village clerk, if the property is in an incorporated village.

The Clerk assigns an index number; hearings are scheduled by the court, not the Clerk.

Petition forms are available from the Nassau County Clerk’s Office, 240 Old Country Road, Mineola. You can file once ARC’s final determination is in and the final roll is published, usually April 1. The deadline is the last business day of April, or 30 days after ARC’s decision if it comes after April 1; ARC’s calendar for each tax year lists the exact date. Attorneys aren’t required, and SCAR costs far less than a full tax certiorari case in Supreme Court.

The law presumes the assessor’s value is correct, so the hearing is about your evidence: recent sales of similar homes nearby, an appraisal, and anything wrong with the assessor’s record of your house. The hearing officer can keep the assessment or lower it, but can’t raise it. In Nassau, State law requires a decision within 30 days after the hearing.