By Scott Brinton
It's the only county in which four property classes are defined for purposes of assessing homeowners¹ property tax bills: Class I, residential; Class II, condominiums and cooperatives; Class III, utilities; and Class IV, commercial. Each class picks up a different percentage of the school-tax burden.
Bellmore Superintendent Sheldon Dumain says the state Office of Real Property Services has continually shifted more of the responsibility for funding the schools from commercial to residential properties. In education jargon, the phenomenon is known as the "shift in adjusted base proportion" -- base proportion being the percentage that each of the four property classes pays in school taxes.
When homeowners must pay a greater percentage of the tax pie, their property-tax bills inevitably go up -- and often shoot up.
That was the message Dumain drove home last Friday at a forum sponsored by the Nassau County Council of School Superintendents at the Brookside School in North Merrick. Dr. William Johnson, the Rockville Centre superintendent, joined Dumain as a presenter.
Attending the forum were a number of state lawmakers, including Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, a Democrat of Long Beach; David McDonough, a Republican of North Merrick; and Robert Barra, a Republican of Lynbrook. The event gave superintendents a chance to lobby legislators for a greater share of education aid. The superintendents also called on lawmakers to reform the system by which the schools are funded. The current system, they said, places an undue tax burden on Long Island homeowners.
Subhead: A growing burden
Dumain noted that Bellmore homeowners once paid 68 percent of local school taxes. But along came the shift in adjusted base proportion. The state now mandates that they shoulder 91 percent of the bill. "That," Dumain said, "will have a dramatic impact on the amount of taxes paid for by our homeowners."
Dumain suggested that the state cap the shift in base proportion permanently at 1 percent per year. This way, he said, the shift would be phased in slowly and would come as less of a shock to homeowners.
At the same time that homeowners are paying a greater share of school taxes, home prices -- and thus home assessments -- are rising rapidly. Dumain spoke of a Bellmore home that was worth $439,000 only a few years ago. The county recently assessed it at $782,400, and it sold for $920,000. It was then torn down, and a lavish home was built in its place. A million-dollar home on a block inevitably drives up the assessments -- and thus the property taxes -- of surrounding homes.
Subhead: State aid wanted
Johnson said that Nassau County needs more state education aid to help reduce property taxes. "We're sending a lot of money to Albany" in state income taxes, he said, "and we're getting less than our fair share" of aid.
Education aid is money that the state provides to help defray the cost of funding the schools. Aid levels have increased in recent years, but school officials are quick to note that education aid funds a smaller percentage of their budgets than it once did. Fifteen years ago, state aid funded 30 percent of the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District budget. Today that figure is less than 15 percent.
Schools depend on two primary funding sources -- property taxes and state aid. When state aid is reduced, property taxes go up, unless student programming is cut.
Johnson said it is also important to distinguish between the different types of education aid the state offers. In the governor's executive budget, there are two types of aid that school districts are essentially free to spend as they choose -- Flex Aid and Sound Basic Education Aid. The superintendent said the governor boasts that he is providing record levels of school aid. But Johnson noted that, for Long Island school districts at least, that money usually isn¹t Flex Aid or Sound Basic Education Aid.
Rather, the new dollars come in the form of Building, special education or Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) aid -- all of which require school districts to spend a certain amount of money in order to receive the aid.
On average, school districts across the state receive $5,573 per student in state aid. New York City gets $5,852. But Nassau County receives roughly half that -- $2,931 per student, according to Johnson. On Long Island, the superintendent said, "The tax burden is unbelievable. People are saying enough is enough."
In addition to increasing Flex Aid and Sound Basic Education Aid for Long Island districts, Johnson suggested that the state enact a 1 percent income tax surcharge that would fund schools in the counties where the surcharge was collected. That, Johnson said, would dramatically decrease the burden that Nassau County homeowners must bear in funding schools.
But Weisenberg countered that the surcharge wouldn't fly in Albany because it would be seen as a new tax, and fearing voter backlash, legislators don't like to enact new taxes.
Subhed: Lawmakers react
Weisenberg said the state needs a better system to fund education. But, he noted, "I don't know how we're going to solve our [school] tax problem."
Weisenberg did say, however, that the Nassau County Assembly delegation -- both Democrats and Republicans -- works hard to bring home greater state education aid. "It's difficult," he said. "We do the best we can."
"There's no politics when it comes to Long Island [schools],² said McDonough. ³We are all on the same page when it comes to education and health care. Our upstate [Assembly] colleagues look at us and say, ŒYou guys are rich. Why do you keep complaining?¹²
McDonough said that a number of Long Island lawmakers are working in the Legislature to enact a regional cost index that would tie state aid to the cost of living. Because many costs are considerably higher on Long Island than upstate, Long Island would get more state aid if an index were factored in.
But according to education officials, a cost index stands little chance of passing the Legislature, where upstate lawmakers are firmly in control.
Comments about this story? SBrinton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 203.
