“In proportion as the structure of a government gives form to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.” – George Washington.
The Essay Contest is open to all high school juniors residing in the Village of Scarsdale. Deadline November 24.
The meeting will be held in the 3rd floor Meeting Room at Village Hall and will start at 8 p.m. On the agenda are:
An update on the Astorino campaign and a discussion of upcoming events provided by George Oros;
Planning actions for us to take on behalf of the Astorino campaign;
Update on our County Legislative District (5);
Status report on the Essay Contest;
Discussion of NY State’s bond issue and Scarrsdale’s leaf collection.
Incentives for Businesses to Stay
Property Tax Relief
Reduce state mandates. Encourage greater fiscal responsibility.
We support a simple and straightforward approach to slowing the ever increasing school property tax burden. A Property Tax Cap would permit the total property tax burden to increase by the previous years Consumer Price Index or 4% whichever is lower. However, we would exclude additions in the overall increase to do new construction and property improvements. But this approach would begin to put a need for true fiscal responsibility in local School boards. It will instantly allow each school board in its negotiation for equipment, supplies, salaries and other services and products to be able to say “sorry we would love to give you more BUT we have this property tax cap”. Furthermore, we can still allow for an override of the cap for specifically stated operating purposes, or to exclude new capital financing costs from the levy limit by say a 60 percent super-majority of district voters. Voters also would have the right to petition for “under-ride” referendums to permanently reduce their levy limits.
An excellent example of this Property Tax cap was put into effect in Massachusetts where the cap was 2.5 %. The Cap was enacted in 1980 when Massachusetts and NY were number one and two with the highest combined state and local tax burdens of all 50 states. Massachusetts dropped to Number 28 and New York remains in the top three. The Property Tax cap worked and overtime brought needed relief to the residents of Massachusetts the same would happen here.