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We are all complaining our taxes are too high. And, yes, they are. So what can we do about it? We just keep going around in circles. Here are some ideas I found on the web:
There's a crisis coming for school costs -- Newsday.com (http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpschl1712766398may18,0,1629189.story - broken link)
Although this Newsday editorial is focusing on school districts, the idea I find most intriguing in it is about a State property tax cap. (Interestingly enough, someone on another thread predicted adding another tier to teacher's retirement plans and guess what, this editorial advocates that.)
Do you think a State property tax cap would help?
This local website (which I found via the [domain blocked due to spam] forum for the above editorial) is focused on Special District reform:
Here is a brief excerpt about the Special Districts in Nassau:
Nassau County is unlike most Counties in New York. Over the past 100 years, Nassau has created a multitude of special taxing districts to provide basic services like garbage, libraries, water, and sewers. Many of these special taxing districts are run by commissioners who are elected, often for 3 -5 year terms, by approximately 1-3% of the residents of these districts. Nassau has, by far, more special districts than any other county in New York. The overwhelming majority of special taxing districts in Nassau County are costly, ineffective and contribute to our high property taxes.
This local website (which I also found via the [domain blocked due to spam] forum for the above editorial) is focused on what they call Educational reform:
Being originally from Western PA, I can tell you that Long Island is one big batch of people ripping each other off. It's cyclical. It's essentially a jungle where people try to survive by swindling each other. I know that is cynical, but it is true.
The politicians rip off Joe the Mechanic, Joe overcharges Sue for parts, Sue marks up her fees when doing John's taxes, John charges way too much for simple contracting work for Jane, Jane joins the teacher's union and rips off the taxpayers again, etc etc.
Until people look in the mirror and see this dog eat dog culture for what it is, nothing will change.
1. Tax Caps--won't work. Pols spend way too much money and the local govts would be bankrupt.
2. Consolidation--Parents will never ever allow school consolidation on LI. The best you can hope for is consolidation of sewer, water, garbage, etc. Police and fire should be consolidated too, but won't be because of special interests.
I would not expect school district consolidation. Just too many. Even if there were a serious effort to consolidate, the cost of the lawsuits filed alone would be prohibitive ...
However, the special district consolidation is worth a try. I remember Newsday did a story awhile back on the Great Neck Water District and it showed that the top person there was making almost $200K a year and hired his own son as his assistant making almost the same. The Great Neck Water District is TINY. That is nepotism and a ripoff of the taxpayers at its worst. Who knows what's going on in all of the other special districts.
I would not expect school district consolidation. Just too many. Even if there were a serious effort to consolidate, the cost of the lawsuits filed alone would be prohibitive ...
This is a common belief, but is it accurate? Even though some people will howl, there seems to be a lot of support for this. What if we actually moved forward as though it were a possibility and tried to get a referendum brought to the voters?
No thanks, I bought a smaller house in a good district for a reason. I am not intersted in combining districts to create New York City schools on Long island- personally I will deal with the taxes because i like what is happenning in my district.
I wish all of the rest who bought in a crappy district would stop with this consolidation silliness.
I disagree with the "One Budget Vote Only" idea, because it can often happen that a Contingency budget turns out to be more expensive than the Proposed Budget. You would think that the budget would pass with flying colors if people see that their taxes would go up, say, 6% under the Proposed Budget but 9% under a Contingency budget .... but that's assuming that everyone reads the informational flyers that are sent out. Never underestimate the propensity of people to accidentally throw out something that looks like junk mail.
With the "One Budget Vote Only" scenario, such a budget that was very narrowly defeated would not have a second chance at passing and thus the taxpayers would be stuck with a 9% increase for that year.
Being originally from Western PA, I can tell you that Long Island is one big batch of people ripping each other off. It's cyclical. It's essentially a jungle where people try to survive by swindling each other. I know that is cynical, but it is true.
The politicians rip off Joe the Mechanic, Joe overcharges Sue for parts, Sue marks up her fees when doing John's taxes, John charges way too much for simple contracting work for Jane, Jane joins the teacher's union and rips off the taxpayers again, etc etc.
Until people look in the mirror and see this dog eat dog culture for what it is, nothing will change.
1. Tax Caps--won't work. Pols spend way too much money and the local govts would be bankrupt.
2. Consolidation--Parents will never ever allow school consolidation on LI. The best you can hope for is consolidation of sewer, water, garbage, etc. Police and fire should be consolidated too, but won't be because of special interests.
You couldn't have said it better !!! I live on LI and I agree with you a 100%.
However, the special district consolidation is worth a try. I remember Newsday did a story awhile back on the Great Neck Water District and it showed that the top person there was making almost $200K a year and hired his own son as his assistant making almost the same. The Great Neck Water District is TINY. That is nepotism and a ripoff of the taxpayers at its worst. Who knows what's going on in all of the other special districts.
Don't know what the rates are in that water district or any in Nassau County, for that matter.
Suffolk County has several water districts and they vary in cost to the consumer. I'm in the South Huntington Water District and pay very little for water: a fraction of what I paid when I had Suffolk County Water Authority... would hate a consolidation as it would only cost me more
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