| Property Taxes, School Funding issues | ||||||||||||
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(to: GSCS)
Dear Governor Corzine, 6-2-07
I am writing you today as a parent and a six-year member of the Glen Ridge Board of Education.
Like all school board members I am accountable to the electorate, my intelligent and focused parent community, the teachers' union, the local press and the State of
Like many in the education community, I am committed to the fight for a more equitable school funding formula. I believe that you are committed to that fight as well. However, we will never achieve any positive change if our elected representatives do not change the punitive tone of their communications and actions toward the education community.
Lately everyone in
We expect more--from our Commissioner, from our legislators, and especially from you. Education is not a dirty word, though our elected representatives have made it so. Every day we Board members and our administrators work hard to create the positive educational outcomes that elected officials love to brag about at election time. Yet every day we are denigrated in
All we ask for is an end to the destructive rhetoric and a chance to engage in a positive dialog with you and your staff. We in the trenches have ideas to share with you that will save money, improve education for all our children and help insure the state's future by providing the kind of educated work force potential employers are crying for. We can continue to play the "blame game" and achieve nothing or we can work together. We hope that you will choose to work with us.
Elisabeth Ginsburg
President,
(To: GSCS) 4-15-06
TAX PROPOSALS
Jim O’Neill
School District of the
Premise: Property taxes in
PROPOSAL #1
The overwhelming majority of communities in
School taxes are the largest share of tax dollars required of each homeowner. Once the school budget has been voted on, that is the maximum number of dollars that the school district has access to during the coming year. Yet the municipality continues to collect taxes from expanded or new homes assessing them at the rate which would include school taxes. Why does the municipality collect dollars based on school needs when schools are not going to access or utilize any of those tax dollars? Doesn’t this artificially inflate the resources the municipality needs for their operating budget or put school based tax dollars into municipal reserves?
When school taxes are collected (after the school budget has been approved) they should be placed in escrow and used to depress the total dollars the school district needs to raise the following year.
This would annually make available dollars that the school district could subtract from the total dollars needed to run the district the next year. These dollars could also be targeted at maintaining the school district’s infrastructure, thereby investing in one of the community’s largest assets.
Proposal #2
Senior citizens and others on fixed incomes often feel they cannot stay in a home they have been in for many years due to annual increases in property taxes. No doubt additional dollars when you are on a fixed income create anxiety and stress in addition to a dwindling number of dollars available for other expenses.
Property tax increases are partly the result of the dramatic increase in property values in
When citizens retire, or when they are on a fixed income, their property taxes should be fixed. (Some people might propose means testing but that will complicate the issue and make it more difficult to resolve). Every year when taxes go up the municipal offices will keep track of the increased taxes that would have been raised, but were not collected due to the exemption. When these citizens decide to sell their home or when their heirs sell the home, all of the uncollected taxes would be collected and used to depress the total taxes to be raised by the entire community that year. Thus all citizens would contribute fairly to the total cost of schools and municipal services, but not necessarily to the same degree annually. Seniors of means could voluntarily opt not to participate in this program.
Your recent EMAILNET asked for thoughts on the property tax burden.
At the risk of over simplifying, here are my thoughts.
To remain revenue neutral, ie., assuming the current needs and cost of property taxes remains the same, then:
The property burden is primarily on seniors, that is, those on fixed incomes. Property taxes rate of increase unfairly burdens those least able to pay. Sales tax and income tax are a more fair way to collect taxes. Therefore, the way funds are collected for schools and municipalities and counties needs to be fixed. We are literally taxing seniors out of our towns and this is wrong.
This we all understand.
Collecting funds for schools and municipalities by, for example, a form of income or sales tax will decrease the financial burden on seniors while others pick up their portion. Therefore, to over simplify, 1/3 of tax payers (seniors) will have their entire financial burden decrease, 1/3 will remain the same, and 1/3 will increase.
This is more fair and we need to get to this type of tax collection. However, being a taxpayer from an "I" district and being one of those tax payers who will likely have my over-all tax bill increase, I want to be assured that every additional penny I pay will come back to my town/school. This is my big concern. I worry that some portion of my increase will get lost in the state quagmire and will never make it back to my town. And once that faucet is opened, it doesn't seem to ever close!
Thanks for listening. Keep up the battle.
Craig Nowlin
