Long Islanders for Educational Reform

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Long Islanders for Educational Reform

LIFER, Long Islanders for Educational Reform, was organized in 2005 to address the issue of
escalating school taxes, while maintaining excellence in our educational systems. Drawn from business, education, civic organizations and other groups of concerned citizens, we are committed to finding an equitable solution to the problem of burdensome taxation.

LIFER offers free start up, recruitment, organizational expertise, web sites and support to any homeowners group or people that want to start a civic association.

What you must know before you vote

1) Education law does not require Boards of Education to be accurate in their estimations or to

use factual information because it is available.

2) A School budget is this year's guess based on last year's guess, often without actual

cost being considered. Most budgets are under spent (over taxed) by millions

3) Reserves are under spent (over taxed) millions held by Districts to improve balance sheet

4) The difference between an adopted and contingent budget is the difference between an

open checkbook and limited funds. An adopted budget can be changed after the voters

approved the budget for unforeseen circumstances such as a new union contract signed

a day after the voters approved the budget. A Contingent budget caps spending.

Some Facts about where your property tax dollars getting used ...

NYS Mandates everything and only pays $3.2 Billion. LI Homeowners pay $7.4 Billion
$23,252 Average Cost Per Long Island Pupil (we have 459,135 LI Students)
$1.4 Billion of Taxpayer overcharges are sitting in School District Banks
And the use that money in reserves to blackmail residents into accepting proposed budget. How?
Boards can present fraudulent contingency budgets.
The difference between contingency and a passed budget is the difference
between an open check book and a spending cap
The State’s per pupil spending was 65% above the national average($9,666)
The Property Tax share was 48.4 % the national average share was 44%
New York per pupil salaries was $11,042, 88% above the National average
The State’s per-pupil spending salaries exceeded the spending of 37 states

Support Tax Cap. Visit the site below ...
http://www.lischooltax.com/

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Whats going on with June revotes?; June 8, 2012 at 12:54 PM

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Long Island Property taxes most important issue, say LIers

No surprise here ! To stop this ridiculous rise in property taxes we have to educate our fellow LIers and contact your representative that they should demand Speaker Silver respond to the pleas of homeowners across the state and support a property tax cap in New York. It has already passed the senate but is being stalled in the Assembly by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Also this year we are seeing some enormous rise in property taxes in school districts such as William Floyd 12.47% and Seaford 8.99%. Some school districts such as Middle country is resorting to blackmailing its residents. The deal for districts residents is either approved a 6.68% increase or the district is going to force 21.61% increase in tax levy.

Published by THOMAS MAIER at Newsday

By a wide margin, property taxes are the most important issue facing Long Islanders, according to a Newsday / News 12 Long Island / Siena Research Institute Poll. Property taxes were cited overall by 45 percent of respondents, more than twice the 21 percent who cited "availability of good jobs" as the second most pressing issue for Long Islanders. "Property taxes are really an issue here because it keeps the young people from staying on Long Island and it will prevent the older people from staying, too," Tafuri explained.

Property taxes also are a large part of why the 57 percent of those polled said Long Islanders are headed in the "wrong direction" rather than the "right track" in the poll. A similar margin said New York State was headed in the wrong direction as well.

Property taxes are a particularly raw issue in Nassau County, where 53 percent cited them as the biggest issue, compared to 36 percent in Suffolk. Islandwide, Republicans and people 55 years or older complained about property taxes the most. "The Democrats love to spend money and they have to get it from the taxpayers," said one poll respondent, a retired Republican who lives on Nassau County's South Shore.

School costs - the biggest part of property tax bills - were also on the minds of Long Islanders who cited "the quality of public schools" among their top concerns. "The first thing I would do is eliminate tenure for teachers in public schools to cut costs," said another poll respondent, a 50-year-old Garden City man who is a Republican and who did not want to give his name. Although he was happy that his two children attending local schools got a good education there, he said his family's property tax bill has been overwhelming.

Property taxes hit a chord with all respondents, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, location or party affiliation. In addition to identifying the most important issue, the poll underlined the intensity of Long Islanders' general feelings about property taxes, with 86 percent calling the issue "very important" and 11 percent as "somewhat important." Crime, schools, good jobs and health care also received strong reactions, with traffic congestion and the local environment getting milder reactions.