CALL TO ACTION: MTA TAX WOULD IMPACT SCHOOLS

Having been rejected in the state budget, legislation to bail out the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is swiftly moving through the legislature.  It calls for employers in the MTA service area (including school districts) to pay a tax on their payroll.  For schools, this means that the state would divert the use of local school property taxes to pay for a state transportation program.  To make matters worse, the tax would be retroactive to last January and schools obviously didn’t plan on this new mandated cost when finalizing their budgets.

Whether or not you live in the affected area, this bill is bad for all schools.  If the state is successful in this attempt to pay for the MTA with local taxes, what else might they decide to shift to schools?  As you read this, legislators from both parties (both upstate and downstate) are being lobbied by legislative leaders to obtain enough votes outside the New York City delegation to pass this bill.  They need to hear that despite whatever is promised in return for their support, this ill-conceived plan must be

A RESOUNDING ‘NO’ ON MAY 19TH

I was flummoxed by the school board’s .47% budget increase, which the board said would ‘only’ add $61 in taxes for a house with an assessed value of $18,000. How much moral outrage could I muster about paying an amount less than Scotti’s bi-monthly beauty parlor appointment at Happy Tails? Plenty, as it turns out.

After reading caringcitizen9’s and Steveh’s comments this morning, everything changed for me. With the $600,000 the Hastings school district received in federal stimulus funds, the board had a major opportunity to begin reversing a decade of profligate spending that has raised our taxes over 50 percent while school enrollment shrank.  It took the easy way out. Instead of a 0 percent increase, or the 2.05% it had previously proposed, it boosted spending by 2.38%, hiding behind the stimulus money.

Enough is enough. Speaking only for myself I will VOTE ‘NO’ on May 19^th. I urge you all to do the same, and I encourage you to find creative ways to get out the vote such as putting up posters and volunteering to drive people to the polls on May 19^th.

Long-term we have a lot to do beyond May 19^th, work that has already begun. We’re talking to people in other school districts who are fighting irresponsible budgeting, started researching best practices in school budget cutting, reached out to our local public officials and the New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief.  This will take hard work and commitment from as many people who are willing to get involved and put some time and effort into what we must demand from our school board-quality education at a tax rate we can afford.

Posted by Marlene Piturro

Opinions reflect the viewpoint of the person who posts the article.

Chair of NY Governor’s Property Tax Commission-part 2 of 2

Chair of NY Governor’s Property Tax Commission-part 1 of 2