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Vol. 8, No. 4APRIL 2002PAGE ONE

PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE
Doug Omstrom

This Spring, CIBS was pleased to present two very well attended information seminars. On March 19, more than one hundred people attended an educational program in which the main topic of discussion was the components of a lease term sheet. Special thanks are extended to Eric Rubinstein, Larry Feldman, Jim Coughlan and Bill Yorio for their insight.
On March 27, the annual CIBS/ABLI “Overview of the Long Island Commercial Real Estate Market for 2002” workshop was held. Both brokerage and development experts in the industrial, office and retail sectors were on hand, providing all those present with valuable information and insightful opinions.
I hope all members are planning to attend our annual CIBS/ABLI dinner, a special event that is fast approaching. Special thanks must be given to Desmond Ryan, Executive Director of ABLI, for arranging to have Governor George Pataki as our guest speaker. We all look forward to hearing what Governor Pataki has to say in this election year.


On March 27th, the Association for a Better Long Island, Inc. and the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island hosted a panel discussion: “Annual Economic Outlook for Long Island” in which brokers representing industrial, commercial and retail real estate took part. Moderating was A.J. Carter of Newsday. On the panel (L-R) were Alan Eidler, Spiegel Associates (Industrial), William Greiner, Greiner Maltz Co., Inc. (Industrial), David Pennetta, Oxford & Simpson Realty Inc. (Office), Kenneth Breslin, Breslin Realty (Retail), Roger Tilles, The Tilles Organization (Office) and Stan Schuckman, Schuckman Realty (Retail).
Charles Serota, President of ABLI, will present the award for “Most Ingenious Deal”, and I will have the pleasure of presenting the “Developer of the Year” award. In addition, this year we will be awarding the “Community Service” honor, the recipient of which will be the Real Estate Practitioners Institute of C.W. Post College.
Finally, every regular member of CIBS will be receiving ballots in the near future for the election that will fill the open seats for the upcoming year. We encourage all to vote. Should you be interested in running for the board, please contact me at (516) 364 - 2900. We shall announce the new CIBS board members and new slate of officers at our annual May Round Table Workshop. More details regarding the date, time and location will be sent to you shortly or you can check our web site calendar at
CIBS-LI.org for the latest updates.
As always, should you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact me.

 

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Nothing Is

 
Certain Except
Death and...
by Karen Strom
Nassau County is emerging from its fiscal morass under new leadership and the very real threat of State takeover . One of the items under intense scrutiny is the assessment system - - which has been criticized as being archaic and out of sync with the taxpayers of one of the most wealthy and educated constituent bases in the Country. How the County got to the point of levying residential taxes based on 1938 cost of construction formulas trended to today’s value is beyond my understanding, both as a tax certiorari practitioner and Nassau County homeowner. It appears to breach all protocol of what makes sense - - both literally and fiscally. As a practitioner in this field for more than a decade and ten additional years beyond that as a non-professional, I remember being advised in the early 80’s that the Nassau County tax certiorari calendar is the most congested court calendar in New York State. Two decades later (besides a commercial property only revaluation in 1986) - we are now awaiting a Countywide revaluation that includes residential parcels (which have not been reassessed for the past 60+ years) as well as all commercial parcels - - of which there are in excess of 200,000.
Brokers beware. The new assessment figures for the revaluation will be put in place on January 1, 2003. Impact notices estimating the change in real estate taxes are expected to be issued in June or July of this summer. The implications can be staggering to a potential buyer in this “Never Never Land” of old versus new assessments. In fact, the records of the revaluation company will not be made a public record and the only way to determine the change in assessment - - and concomitant taxes - - is to review the actual “Impact Notice” for the parcel in question.
Investors and brokers should be well advised to discuss future taxes with caution. While the standard question to tax certiorari attorneys has always been “Can you reduce these taxes ?”, the question to be asked until next year is “How much will these taxes go up?”
Karen Strom is a partner in the Firm of Schroder & Strom, LLP in Mineola, specializing in Tax Certiorari. Ms. Strom can be contacted at (516) 742-7430
Doug Omstrom, CIBS President introduces the panel discussion entitled, “What Role Do Brokers & Attorneys Plan in Lease Negotiation?” on Tuesday Marck 19th.

Barry Stein of Rohman & Stein Associates addressed the group on “The Real Estate Practitioner’s Institute Courses Outline”