Spinola, in a March 21 address to the Standing Committee on Real Estate Taxation, called on the government to overhaul the complex assessment process created a decade ago by the Real Estate Board, then finance commissioner Carol O'Cleireacain and her deputy Martha Stark, the current commissioner. "There should be a simple explanation from the assessor of how the value was determined," he said.

His suggestions for streamlining the system included providing property owners with information about the cap rate used and why a building's income was rated as above or below market. "Owners send the city voluminous amounts of income and expense information as well as a roster of tenants and current leases," he stated. "In response, they should receive more than a single number stating the assessment without any justification or explanation."

Spinola acknowledged the inherent subjectivity of property assessments, pointing out "respected and impartial professionals could reasonably differ," on a valuation, making it "virtually impossible to detect criminal conduct." He also suggested that the city's offer to reduce the assessments of 101 of 562 properties identified in the recent valuation scandal indicates that those parcels were probably assessed too high initially.