Archive: Around Town

Lansing School Superintendent Chris Pettograsso reported over the last two Board of Education meetings that an exit poll at the May budget vote that passed the 2019-20 school budget by 84% showed that the main reason the other 16% voted no was that they can't afford tax increases.  559 district residents for the budget $30,794,650 budget, and 111 against.  Pettograsso said the statistic is typical of districts across the region and New York State.

"Voters who voted 'no' voted simply because of the tax increase," Pettograsso said at last week's school board meeting. "When it comes to tax increases maybe we need to get out and educate more, because there is not a significant tax increase, and there is money back (from New York State) that should be covering that tax increase."

Lansing Town Supervisor Ed LaVigne notes that decisions about school budgeting is not up to the Town government, but says Lansing has increased the tax base, which provides some relief for existing taxpayers, relief he says they sorely need because of severe reductions in the assessed value of the Cayuga power Plant and the Ithaca Mall.

"We worked as hard as we can to get more businesses up on Warren Road," he told the Lansing Star. "Those are over a million dollars each.  As someone said, we have done in two months what it would have taken two years in any other area around here.  We are scrambling as fast as we can.  When I first got in office the first thing I had to do was try to get that tax base up because we n=knew those PILOT negotiations were going to be continued with the power plant.  The first thing I was greeted with was a $10 million decrease of the Shops at Ithaca Mall assessment."

1.2 million New Yorkers have reportedly left the state since 2010.  And in the 47th annual United Van Lines 'National Movers Study' New York State ranks 4th for the most people leaving with 61.5% leaving the state and only 38.5% moving here.  Each year the moving company conducts a study to see how many inbound and outbound moves each state experiences, and conducts a poll to determine the reasons people move.

"Several southern states also experienced high percentages of inbound migration, such as South Carolina (59.9 percent) and North Carolina (57 percent). United Van Lines determined the top reasons for moving south include job change (46.6 percent) and retirement (22.3 percent)," the report summarizes. "In the Northeast, however, an outbound moving trend continues. New Jersey (66.8 percent), Connecticut (62 percent) and New York (61.5 percent) were included among the top 10 outbound states for the fourth consecutive year. Midwestern states like Illinois (65.9 percent), Kansas (58.7 percent), Ohio (56.5 percent) and Iowa (55.5 percent) saw high outbound relocation as well."

The poll found the primary reason for moving out of New York State is for jobs, followed by retirement, family, lifestyle, and health.  The largest segment of people leaving are over 55 years old, which may be an indicator that people on fixed incomes can no longer afford the taxes.  The top outbound states for 2018 were New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, New York, Kansas, Ohio, Massachusetts, Iowa, Montana, and Michigan.

LaVigne says he would like to reverse that trend, at least in Lansing.  He is optimistic about the Cayuga Power Plant's prospects of converting into a major cloud data center, which, after a decade of steep declines in its assessed value could not only begin rising again, but potentially attract other businesses and new residents to the Town.

"Let's say hypothetically our businesses grow with the data center and all of a sudden out assessed value doubles," he said. "If the levy stays the same, your rate ought to go down.  If your pie is twice as big, your taxing liability should be halved."

Other Lansing School District exit poll comments urged the district to continue addressing school diversity, concerns about the absence of sidewalks on Ridge Road (which as a State road is beyond the school district's jurisdiction or ability to do anything about it), concerns about traffic, concern about how increases in enrollment may impact class size, and calls to continue sending printed publications.  Other comments expressed concern with the state of the track at Sobus Field, which Pettograsso said would be part of the next capital project, noting that the track has reached the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced. 

Pettograsso also said there were some comments urging school officials to continue working with the Town government.

"I think we do that quite well," she said. "We stay connected with each other on how we can work together.  The biggest way we see that is with the Recreation Department.  If there is a program we are not able to conduct, is there a way that the Rec Department can pick it up?"

"How do you keep the excellent quality of one of the biggest businesses we have in Lansing, which is your schools?" LaVigne asks. "How do you keep that excellence up there if we couldn't maintain assessed value. Do class sizes go up?  Do services go down?  Or does the class size stay the same and you raise the tax rate?"

He says that if people are concerned about taxes they need to participate in municipal and school board meetings to make their concerns heard.  He also says the tax cap will continue to mitigate rising taxes.  In May Pettograsso said that voters indicated in the exit poll that they are supportive of the quality of the schools and its programs, but that 'no' votes simply reflected the affordability of taxes.

Pettograsso said, "When you anecdotally look at the reasons why (they voted no), they say, 'I support the board, I support the school.  It's just too expensive for me.  I can't afford it.'  We have to look at that and think about that," she said. "I didn't see anybody say I don't support the school.  I don't support the amazing things that are happening.'  It was really about affordability of the tax increase."

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