Taxes too high? Look to the schools

These days almost everybody has a complaint about the government. In Washington it’s about health care, taxes, over-regulation and bailouts. Here at home the complaints deal with the economy and real estate taxes, but mostly taxes.

So it’s a pleasant surprise that seven of Long Island’s town supervisors have proposed new budgets for next year that have either no tax increase or a slight reduction in taxes. The others who are proposing tax increases have kept them to the bare minimum. That’s the good news.

Town taxes aren’t the largest part of your local tax bill. In some places it isn’t more than 10 percent, if not lower. The biggest part of the Long Island tax bill is school taxes, which weigh in at a hefty 60 percent or more. And that’s where the problem is.

There’s no need to look into a crystal ball to figure out what’s going to happen in Washington and Albany next year. If the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives, there won’t be an extra nickel for local public schools. If the Democrats hold on to their majority, there probably won’t be any new school funds, either.

As for the State Legislature in Albany, next year promises to be one of the worst years for all local governments. The state has gotten through this year with a patchwork budget that could spring a leak at any time. Wall Street is throwing off some revenues, but the tax collections are still very meager and unless a lot of people get back to work soon, the deficit will be gigantic.

So if the towns can hold the line on tax increases, isn’t it time for the school districts to do the same? To their credit, a number of teachers unions in both Nassau and Suffolk counties have agreed to defer any increases in salary and have offered some givebacks. The problem is that the vast majority of teachers unions on Long Island have not made similar sacrifices.

In fairness to the unions, they aren’t the total solution to the problem. They can help by agreeing to help. But school boards and school officials have to be willing to bite the bullet and take the steps necessary to hold down tax increases.