By: Angela Marshall and Joseph Kellard
With school tax bills going out this week, Levinson said that now is the time to revamp the system to provide relief next year. Similar proposals have been brought before state government many times in the past decade and always rejected, but Levinson said that school property tax rates are climbing at a pace that many homeowners can't meet. County-wide, property tax rates are increasing 8 to 12 percent per year, he said.
"What is often overlooked," Levinson said, "is that even at an annual eight percent increase, homeowners would see their school property tax obligation double by the end of a decade."
Levinson is also pushing for a revamping of the way commercial property taxes are dispersed.
Under his proposal, an income tax similar to New York City's would be paid by all Nassau County residents, homeowners and renters alike. The money collected from residents in a school district would be directed to that district. Levinson feels most districts would collect enough funds to cover school budgets. He said the state should shift its billion-dollar school-aid package already in place to help districts with lower incomes that can't make budgeted commitments. He also recommends revamping the New York State Tax Relief Program, STAR, so that money allocated to it can be used to help the struggling districts.
One of the reasons behind Levinson's big push for revamping the system is the dramatic difference from school district to school district in taxes paid by homeowners with properties assessed at the same value. A Rockville Centre resident with a home assessed at $470,000 will pay about $7,490 in taxes this year, while a Baldwin resident with the same assessed value will pay $9,920, an Oceanside resident $7,780 and a Long Beach resident $5,433.
"Over the past year, I have heard the cries of thousands of taxpayers who have indicated that they can no longer pay the property taxes that are imposed by school districts, along with the other hundreds of taxing jurisdictions in Nassau County," Levinson said. "A solution must be found. All levels of government must engage in a meaningful dialogue before this crisis overwhelms us."
Oceanside is one of many school districts where budgets were defeated last year, with residents citing their inability to pay the taxes. Dr. Ed Price, a longtime proponent of instituting an income tax, supports Levinson's proposal, maintaining that an income tax is a more equitable means of financing eduction than a property tax. "You take Billy Joel's place in Oyster Bay Cove, and what is it, $7 million? And what is that of his total assests? Probably a small percentage," Price said. "But you get an eldery couple in Island Park, and ... their home ... could be 90 percent of their assets. In essence, by taxing them this heavily, we can drive them out of the community. They can say they can't stay here. That's not fair."
While Levinson's idea is not new, neither is criticism of such plans. State leaders have long balked, saying that an income tax is just not a stable way to raise funds for education. The amount of taxes collected varies from year to year depending on who moves in or out of a district, whereas property taxes are fairly stable.
Dr. William Johnson, superintendent of the Rockville Centre schools, said it would be better to correct the problems created by the county's reassessment program than to start a whole new system of taxation. Johnson said that the recent reassessment, done by Levinson's predecessor, Charles O'Shea, was flawed and has yet to be fixed.
Commenting without having seen the actual numbers in Levinson's proposal and how they would affect Oceanside, Dr. Herb Brown, Oceanside schools superintendent, said, "Property is there, everybody can see it. With income sometimes it's not there for everybody to see."
Both Price and Brown indicated support for a mix of taxation to pay for education. Price once worked in a city in Pennsylvania that, to his approval, funded education through a combination of income and property taxes. Brown said some mix would make sense. "I would want a combination of sales tax, income tax and property tax," he said. "That would lower the property tax for everybody."
New York state Sen. Dean Skelos said through a spokesman that he would not comment on the plan before he had a chance to review it, but that he would "oppose any plan that made our local school districts operate like New York City's."
Levinson used New York City as an example of a location where tax rates are stable and much lower than on Long Island. A typical homeowner on Long Island pays three times the school property taxes that the owner of an identical home in Douglaston, Queens, does, he said.
Few share Levinson's high regard for New York City's school finances. Johnson said that the city's program has been soundly criticized.
Levinson also proposes that all school districts share the taxes collected from Nassau County businesses. That way, the burden of school budgets would not fall to homeowners in districts with very little commercial development. Why should the Uniondale School District get a majority of the taxes paid by Roosevelt Field? he asked.
Levinson said that taxes paid by businesses in Nassau County are even harsher than those paid by homeowners. For example, a gas station valued at $500,000 pays $28,790 per year in East Meadow, while that same business would pay $24,168 in Rockville Centre and $40,665 in Valley Steam School District 24. "If nothing is done to address this inequity," Levinson said, "the soaring school taxes paid by the owners of commercial properties will, in time, make it unlikely for many businesses to generate a profit and impede future economic development."
Johnson called the creation of a single commercial property tax "interesting," and said it was worth looking into. He did question the basis for distributing funds to school districts.
Levinson concedes that there are many details to be worked out before it will be known if his plans are usable. He called on Gov. George Pataki to create a nonpartisan commission to study the proposal. Levinson was warned that he would catch a lot of flak for suggesting the changes, because people are afraid of an income tax, but, he said, he thinks people are more afraid of losing their homes.
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