Receiver of Taxes Charles Berman

Charles Berman was appointed Receiver of Taxes by the Town Board in January, 2010 to replace Rocco Iannarelli who had stepped down to accept a position with the New York Power Authority (NYPA). In November, 2010, Charlie was elected in a special election to serve a one-year unexpired term as Receiver of Taxes.

Charlie is a proven government affairs professional with a solid administrative background in business. His career in public service began when he was appointed Deputy Town Clerk of the Town of Oyster Bay in 2000. Charlie was responsible for the overseeing the daily operations of the department. He assisted the elected Town Clerk in providing quality service in a professional, courteous and cost-effective manner. Charlie helped to revitalize and modernize the Town Clerk’s office and he implemented an automated license system for New York State hunting and fishing licenses. He also coordinated the opening of the first US passport application facility in a Town Clerk’s office on Long Island.

In August, 2003, Charlie was appointed North Hempstead Receiver of Taxes to succeed Ann Galante, who stepped down to care for her ailing husband. Charlie was responsible for the collection and distribution of all County, School, General and Special District taxes within the Town. Charlie implemented the first “lockbox” system for a Receiver of Taxes in Nassau County. This allowed for the depositing of tax payments within 24 hours after being received resulting in increased interest income for the Town which helped reduce tax levies.

Charlie was appointed in 2004 to serve as Assistant to the Chairman of the Nassau County Board of Assessors. There he served as the Chairman’s liaison to all divisions within the department. He wrote personal correspondence, did casework, and assisted constituents. He also worked on special assignments including: coordination of the Department’s successful investigation (in cooperation with the New York State Attorney General’s Office) of over-billing practices of property tax reduction consultants. In 2009, the new County Assessor promoted Charlie to Director of the Assessment Assistance Division. In this capacity, he directed community service programs for the Department and supervised a professional staff of over 30 CSEA clerical and call-center personnel and field assessors.

Before his life in public office, Charlie was the Executive Vice President of Berman Agency, Inc., a family owned insurance brokerage firm that specialized in property, casualty, disability, and life insurance products for personal and commercial clients. Prior to that he was the Director of Operations of Pandick Technologies, Inc. NY, a division of Pandick Press, a financial printing firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Now in his second term as North Hempstead Receiver of Taxes, Charlie oversees the annual mailing of 180,000 tax bills, the transmitting of 100,000 electronic bills to Tax Service Organization, and the receiving and processing of 288,000 tax payments, including 10,000 payments made in person at Town Hall and at community collection sites. Charlie is also responsible for safely investing over $1 billion in taxpayer funds annually.

In 2010, Charlie brought the Tax Office on line with the Town’s “311” Call Center enabling taxpayers to receive prompt answers to their tax questions. Charlie is dedicated to making the tax-payment process as convenient as possible. Toward this goal, the Tax Office accepts online credit card and check (ACH) payments, as well as payments at community tax collection sites.

Charles Berman grew up in Nassau County and has been a resident of Roslyn Heights since 1988. He has long been active in his community and Temple. He served as Temple Sinai Brotherhood President from 1995-1998 and as Temple President from 2005-2007. During his tenure as President, Temple Sinai successfully completed the largest renovation and building project in its history. Charlie has been married for over 28 years to Lisa Berman, an accomplished actress and singer in community theatre on Long Island. They are the proud parents of Jeremy, a graduate of Northwestern University and Teachers College, Columbia University, a secondary social studies teacher; Rebecca, a college freshman at Penn State University; and Ben, a 9th grade student at Roslyn High School.