The Cost of Living on Long Island

The and membership continues to be concerned with the ongoing burden of high property taxes in our community and on Long Island.  Being #2 behind Westchester is nothing to be proud of.  Over the past few years CCAF has provided on many relative issues like school taxes, NYS education mandates, illegal apartments/housing, housing affordability, foreclosures, local economic development and other issues of concern to our members.    

Over the last few months CCAF held two ‘town hall’ meetings focusing on taxing issues, discussing and debating ideas on what should elected officials focus on to help reduce the property tax burden not only in Farmingdale but across Long Island.

The following was compilied as a direct result of those discussions and  for their input/action:

1. All levels of government have promised too much and too many union contracts are unsustainable in today’s economy.  The current guaranteed public pension system and healthcare benefits are unsustainable.  All taxing authorities must ask each employee to contribute more thus helping to reduce the burden on taxpayers.

2. School tax burden: reduce and/or eliminate costly unfunded NYS mandates.

3. Revise the mandated pension systems, there are NO guarantees in the private sector, there should be NO guarantees in a public system. Everyone should contribute to a 401K style system. 

4. School funding formula must be revised to create a new simple income based value for funding the core educational costs. Treat each student across NYS as an equal valuable asset, fund each in equal $$ per student for each school district in NYS. A basic education cost per student and the balance can be funded by local decisions.  That could create a more fair and sustainable system.

5. School taxes represent 65% of the local tax burden, the current system has become unsustainable.  The level of administration and high salaries need to be brought into perspective with today’s economy and a community’s ability to sustain the system.  NYS representatives need to address better options that will help to reduce the overall school taxes burden. While the Tax Cap may be part of the solution we feel more must be done to make a significant difference. 

As compainies and good paying jobs exit the island so have too many of our young people, 18-34 years old, at a record pace over the past decade. This message continues to be clear that something must be done now to help reduce the overall burden of all taxing authorities on Long Island.  

What do you think? Do you agree? Do you have other tax reducing ideas? Have you called and written your elected officials lately? Will you?

We realize there are no simple solutions, however if we hope to survive in today's economy things must change. We must think and make changes toward a more sustainable future for all.