Archive: Opinions

When I developed software I loved this question: is it a bug or a feature?  The same function in a computer program could be spun as either, depending on your point of view.  After I reported on the school tax rebate, Tompkins County Director of Assessment Jay Franklin reached out to me to correct my somewhat simple explanation of how the rebate will work.  He was concerned that taxpayers would be disappointed when their checks didn't amount to their expectations, and wanted to provide more information (see the article in this week's issue).

At risk of repeating myself I can't not rant about Albany's hypocritical, paternal stance that it is better at ruling our local communities than the people who live in them, and that the people in Albany from the Governor on down seem to think that if they spin a terrible program to seem like it is a good program, that we will all say 'Yay' and vote for them and believe we all have wonderful lives because of them.

The school tax rebate sounds terrific.  We vote for our school board.  The school board formulates a budget that is below the state mandated 2% tax cap.  That makes school taxpayers eligible for a rebate check in the amount equal to the difference between their last year's school tax bill and this year's.  The wonderfulness is beyond ecstasy.

Except for a couple of things.  You have to qualify to get the rebate.  So some people who are paying more won't get it.  Then it turns out some people who don't even pay school taxes will get a check.  And the amount of the check may not be what you expect, depending on how the state calculates all the little complications.  And in any event you are not going to get a big check.  Ed McMahon won't be showing up at your door with this check!

If Albany really wanted to help local school districts it should do three things: First, restore the promised amount of school aid it promised, and pay the districts the amounts they lost over the years the state reneged on promised funding.  Second, repeal just about every mandate, including every single unfunded mandate, imposed on schools (and municipalities, too, for that matter).  Third: let municipalities pay what they want for their schools.  If they want to pay more, let them.  If taxpayers don't like it they'll vote their school board members out.  Yay home rule!

Some people might argue that Albany is standing up for the little guy, the property taxpayers that are already overwhelmed by a high tax burden.  I am all for that, but that's not what Albany is doing.  It is what Albany is trying to make us think it is doing.

The two percent cap?  It's almost 5% for our district this year.

STAR rebates?  They capped them this year, so they will be lower than promised.

The school tax rebate check?  If you qualify, and if this and if that and if the planets align, you'll get something like the difference between last year's taxes and this year's, except probably less, and maybe a lot less, or none.

Which doesn't matter a lot, because the amounts of these checks are insignificant when you actually compare them to the taxes we are levied.  I might be able to take my wife out for a cheap dinner with my check, and of course some of that will be taxed again.  Not that we all don't like to go out for a cheap dinner every so often, but what is all this ecstasy over a few lousy dollars?

Our school superintendent has said that she would prefer that Albany just give the money to the schools so that the tax levy doesn't have to be so high.  That alone wouldn't convince me, but here is what does: how much does it cost to transfer the money to the school district in one lump versus how much does it cost to issue all those tiny little checks?  Guess whose tax money pays for that administrative cost?

Calling these things beneficial when they are not makes it appear that our Governor is measuring the White House windows for curtains, not that he is actually helping New Yorkers.  I think mot people are smart enough to put that together.  When numbers aren't the numbers they say they are or formulas for benefits are so complicated that the people who are supposed to administer them don't even understand them, then you have to know that the obfuscation equals politics, because it darn sure isn't what it says it is.  2% should be -- guess what? -- two percent.  If you're going to call it that, it ought to be that.

If the school tax rebate were as simple as it sounds it wouldn't be a stellar idea (because of the cost of mailing and printing all the checks), but it would be an OK idea.  But it's not OK.  It is seriously not OK.  What Albany wants us to believe is a feature... it's a bug.

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