The chair of Nassau County?s Board of Assessors is warning homeowners they?ll have to pay more in school taxes this year due to a change in the state?s math.

The School Tax Aid Relief (STAR) Program gives homeowners school tax credits and helps them save money. However, Gov. David Paterson and state legislators have changed how the credits are calculated.

?Bottom line, all residents in Nassau County and in many other communities are going to be paying higher taxes,? Chairman Harvey Levinson says. ?Simply because the state changed the formula and reduced the credit that's on the bill.?

Levinson says the STAR program will save an average homeowner in Baldwin $1,139 this year, but last year he or she would have received a $1,300 credit. He says the new formula hits homes that are on the lower end of the assessment scale harder than those at the higher end.

Levinson says the change never should have happened.