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I agree with the poster about cutting down on the number of school districts. Is there a reason why Lindenhurst, Copiague, Amityville and Babylon need to have separate districts? Why not have one administrative building, maybe one or two fire houses. It's one of the reasons why we are out in Sachem school district. It's a bigger area and the taxes are much lower. (We pay 4k a year in taxes on a 1/4 acre property, 5bdr/2ba).
And what will your total household income be in 25 years??
Depends... are you talking about union or white collar working in private enterprise?
According to Newsday, by 2017 our fearless SCPD detectives will be 'earning' a whopping $227000/annum. Now compare that to salaries for private business... what's that? The numbers of private businesses left on LI is plummeting... and so are the salaries.
At this rate, I see the LI economy imploding under the politicians' incompetence and greed and the unions milking them for all they're worth.
Oh, and BTW, I bought my house in the late nineties and my property taxes have doubled as of Dec 2013.
As a retiree who is living on Social Security plus (starting in five years) the minimum annual required distribution from a smallish IRA, I know what my income is going to be in any given year. I ran those numbers as part of my research on where to relocate from LI after seeing what's going to happen to the property taxes.
In 2027 when the projected taxes on the house are $19,939 my total gross income will be $40,574 which would leave me about $20K for everything else: food, gasoline, electricity, heat, medical expenses not covered by insurance, car repairs, home repair and maintenance, and all the stuff that hits us unexpectedly in our normal lives. A "normal' LI winter entails heating oil bills in the four figure range, as we all know.
And when that $39,991 tax bill would theoretically hit, in 26 years in 2040? Total income would be $44,413 because by that time all of what remains of my nest egg would be used up in trying to close the cash flow gap between income and cost of living including the property taxes.
I did the same projection using a hypothetical location elsewhere with current property taxes of $3000, at the same 5.5% annual increase, same income (because that will be the same no matter where I live), and even using the same high cost of living as we have here on LI. The taxes in that test location in 2040 will be $12,709. I wouldn't even have to start dipping into savings until 2031, whereas on LI all that money will be gone ten years after that point... eaten up by the taxes, mostly.
If your local school district magically and uniformly froze and then CUT every (Admins, teachers, teaching assistants, support staff, maintenance, grounds people, etc) salary 10% for just one year, how much would a hypothetical property tax of 10K decline? I am guessing less than 250 dollars. (Salary percentage of school budget X school percentage of property tax bill). For one year.
Beyond moving to a state income-tax supported school system and/or reducing Nassau-Suffolk to a bare-bones single school district (half day kindergarten, no special ed, no buses, no art/music/foreign language, no sports/clubs, no electives/honors/AP) what options are there to CUT property taxes. The math argues against meaningful property tax reform via employee salary/pension/benefit trimming.
How do you figure that? The salaries and benefits are 90% of the budget. Not only would the savings be far more than 250 bucks, seriously more depending on the district, they would increase in the out years significantly.
Just like there is a millionaires tax, there should be a tax on public employees who make over 150k, becuase when the long term costs are added to the salaries they are millionaires, except that we pay for it. The tax should also include pension payouts over 100k, so that we recoup some of that money that is leaving the state. I dont have a problem with people making good money, I do have a problem when it makes like unaffordable for everyone else. I can decide not to buy some product if it gets too expensive, but I have no choice when it is my taxes.
The whole thing is going to implode and most of the leaders have their heads in the sand.
How do you figure that? The salaries and benefits are 90% of the budget. Not only would the savings be far more than 250 bucks, seriously more depending on the district, they would increase in the out years significantly.
Just like there is a millionaires tax, there should be a tax on public employees who make over 150k, becuase when the long term costs are added to the salaries they are millionaires, except that we pay for it. The tax should also include pension payouts over 100k, so that we recoup some of that money that is leaving the state. I dont have a problem with people making good money, I do have a problem when it makes like unaffordable for everyone else. I can decide not to buy some product if it gets too expensive, but I have no choice when it is my taxes.
The whole thing is going to implode and most of the leaders have their heads in the sand.
Hmmmm. In my district salary and benefits together is 72% (or thereabouts). Let's just say salary for all employees is 65% (or thereabouts) . So I proposed a magical (and thoroughly unrealistic) 10% cut in the 65% of the budget. So that becomes about a 6.5% (or thereabouts) cut in the overall budget...but the school district budget is only 70 % (or thereabouts) of my property tax bill. So that is about a 4% cut in my overall property tax bill. And in my example 4% of 10,000 is 400. Not 250. Looks like I was wrong. Of course the next year with a COLA or step increase....
I too think the gap between taxes and home owners who can keep paying them is shrinking at an alarming rate. I have 2 close friends who left in in the last yr and another 3 on the fence. Something has to be done or our houses are gonna be worth squat.
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nothing in life is promised or guaranteed 
the only thing I'm 99.999999% sure of is taxes on L.I. Will be more in 25 years then it is now! 
