A Nassau County law that aimed to shift liability for tax refunds from the county to municipal entities has been struck down by a Brooklyn appeals panel that viewed the legislation as "indisputabl[y]" inconsistent with state law. Under 1948 state law amendments known as the "County Guaranty," Nassau was deemed liable for all real property tax refunds on erroneous real property tax assessments. In 2010, the county legislature passed a law that aimed to repeal the guaranty and make the various municipal entities liable for the refunds.
Taxpayers, 41 of the county’s 54 school districts along with the Town of North Hempstead and a number of its special districts, sued the county in three separate actions seeking to void the law. In January 2012, Supreme Court Justice Thomas Adams (See Profile) issued one decision for the three suits, holding the county was authorized to adopt the law.
