Archive: Opinions

With taxes due this January I have been thinking about the taxing authorities including Tompkins County, The Town and Village of Lansing, the Lansing Fire and School Districts, and the Lansing Community Library.  There have been many complaints that property taxes are out of control, and I believe they are.  A New York State tax cap seems to me to be more of a feel-good political ploy on the part of Albany than actual relief.  In any event it doesn't seem wise to me for local taxing authorities to take financial advice from spendthrift Albany.  Instead they should be focussing on creating sustainable plans that insure ongoing operation, good services, and reasonable taxes into the future.

In an environment that seems hopeless I found the Town of Lansing's debate on how much of a tax rate deduction it should offer taxpayers inspirational.  When you look at the dismal state of the State, and the challenges Tompkins County and Lansing School budget makers face, a debate on whether to reduce the tax rate by 44% or 15% almost seemed like science fiction.

I have heard some people complain that if the board could have reduced the tax rate by 44% and is only dropping 15% that it is hoarding taxpayer money.  I think we are only hearing this because the conversation was held in the first place.  A 15% tax drop is huge!  I love to complain, but I'm finding it really hard to complain about this one.  And town officials are talking about more drops in the next three to five years.  Wow!

This can happen because the Town is covering its bills, and has the resources to handle unknowns in the coming years.  Meanwhile it is actively pursuing business growth, which will help keep homeowners' property taxes down.  One of the things I really like is that for the first time I am hearing town officials actively talk about creating a long range fiscal plan.  Three years, five years... I'd like at least ten, but that's me.

The Village has done a very good job of taking care of services while maintaining a sustainable budget plan.  This year it is building a new Village Hall at no additional cost to taxpayers.  The fire District is doing the same with a nearly completed addition to Central Station and a new fire station in the Village.  The latter is coming sooner than anticipated, but the district has it covered.  The Fire District has a 20 year capital plan.  That is amazing and unheard of, especially in government.  And the library costs taxpayers almost nothing, and has not raised it's tax rate since it was established.

The two largest taxing authorities are the least sustainable at the moment.  Tompkins County is struggling with budget and department cuts, and even approved selling off the County’s Certified Home Health Agency to a Rochester firm in October.  They did a fair job of keeping the tax rise in check this year, though it is more than two percent.

The Lansing School District is looking at a budget gap of over three 3.7 million dollars.  Again.  While I think the district has cleaned up its financial act considerably over the past three or four years, I can't help agreeing with school board member David Dittman who advocates making painful changes to create a sustainable financial plan that will not require these miserable annual agonies over what to cut and how to spend dwindling resources.

Every year Dittman advocates building a sustainable financial plan.  So far he has been ignored every year.

Granted, the county and school district are subject to all kinds of complicated state and federal rules and mandates..  The county, in particular, has been caught in a vice that pits out of control unfunded state mandates against the tax cap law.

But to my simple mind sustainability is just a matter of being conservative about what you want and spending wisely on it.  Bigger or smaller shouldn't matter.  The same kinds of responsible approaches should work at whatever scale.  People who are actually lucky enough to get 3% more every year shouldn't have to pay more than 3% to their governments.  Most people aren't even getting that amount.  If you do that simple math typical tax rises are simply not sustainable.  That's why so many people have left New York State.

Local taxing authorities can't depend on Albany to get its financial act in gear.  While it may seem less painful to go from year to year dealing with the cuts, reductions in aid, and all the misery that we have seen since the economy tanked, I think one painful, realistic year of major restructuring that leads to a sustainable budget plan is the best way to insure quality and growth of local services.  It shouldn't be about taking away every year.  It should be about building on a solid foundation.

v8i1