NewRo School Tax Increase of 3.8% is Too Much

Written By: Talk of the Sound News

We’re talking about the New Rochelle, NY Board of Ed.

Is anyone upset about the proposed 3.8% increase in taxes for the new school budget? Doesn’t the Board of Ed “get it’?

Blood from a stone!

That’s what the New Rochelle Board of Ed is trying to get from us. Are they delivering better service to our children for the proposed 3.8% increase in taxes or just maintaining status quo?

They are behaving just like the car companies and Wall St who went to the gov’t to bail them out. The NewRo Bd of Ed comes to the taxpayer for more money when they can’t manage the finances, won’t make the necessary cuts or negotiate tough contracts. What will they do when the tax base isn’t there to support the administrative salaries and expenses?

NewRo taxpayers –
If you have had it with Bd of Ed tax increases and tired of being pushed into accepting these increases, please attend the:

Board of Education Budget Review Session & Special Meeting
General Support Areas of the Budget.
Board Room, Central Administration, City Hall, 515 North Avenue, New Rochelle NY 10801. Community discussion is invited.
Date: 3/9/2010
Time: 7:00 PM

Be there to offer your comments on the proposed 3.8% school tax increase.

NewRo residents:
Did you know the NewRo Bd of Ed is has a “hidden” tax that you are paying on your Verizon Wireless bill? It’s called the New Rochelle School District Tax. And, by the way, there is also a New Rochelle City Sales Tax too.

5 thoughts on “NewRo School Tax Increase of 3.8% is Too Much”

  1. The Truth is…
    that New Rochelle schools are considering laying off teachers to meet a budget that is LOWER than last year. While the city of New Rochelle may be pushing a 3.8% increase, the schools are looking at a 1.8% DECREASE budget to budget.

    Therefore, voting against the school budget will force a 0% contingency budget which force an even higher tax increase when it gets folded into the city’s budget.

    As a sidenote, if you’re happy with the schools, you have to pay for what we are receiving. If you are unhappy, then you have to improve the pedagogical infrastructure. At any rate, it would be cutting off your nose to spite your financial face to vote this budget down.

    Do your research before you start slinging mud against our school system. CSDNR is a finalist for the Race To The Top and continues to provide the highest quality education to our students.

    1. “The Truth” is telling untruths…
      For a comment titled “the truth” from a commenter called “thetruth” there is a surprising lack of truth in what you have to say.

      1. The City of New Rochelle has NOT released a proposed budget. The City School District of New Rochelle has.

      2. The District has claimed that the result of approving their budget will be a 3.8% tax increase. This number is entirely fabricated. The school board admitted last year that the “tax increase” figure they announce is fabricated for media consumption. Residents are not voting on a “tax increase” in May, they are voting on the amount of money that they can lawfully take from residents via local taxes, primarily property taxes. The tax increase required is a function of the assessed value of property in New Rochelle, a figure that will not be known until the fall of 2010. Further, the total school tax impact on residents is a combination of increases in local taxes and decreases in STAR exemptions. Last year, STAR exemptions were decreased so that the supposed 3.2% tax increase claimed by the district last year was actually a 6-9% net increase depending on the size of the STAR reduction, typically a function of the value of a primary residence.

      In fact, even this figure understates the true financial situation because the district has been running at a significant deficit all year ( -$2.4 mm at the midpoint of the year according to the district’s auditor’s report delivered 2 months ago). The money used to mask the defect has come from raiding the reserve fund which is simply money hoarded from previous year’s tax increases. More on this in a moment.

      The District is not looking to decrease the budget by 1.8%. The proposed budget decrease is $3,650,000 or a decrease of 1.56%.

      The most confused, misleading statement in your comment is your claim that “voting against the school budget will force a 0% contingency budget which force an even higher tax increase when it gets folded into the city’s budget.”

      First, the school taxes do not get “folded into the city’s budget”. That you think this most clearly demonstrates you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about when it comes to the school district budget.

      Second, to the point raised earlier, the school district is running an annualized deficit of close to $5mm. I am not going to explain Ricardian Equivalence to someone who thinks the school budget is part of the city budget but a government going into debt or raiding a reserve fund is the same thing as a tax increase because all of the money comes from taxpayers. New taxes, going into debt or taking money from a “reserve” fund is just a matter of which taxpayer cookie jar the politicians and bureaucrats want to reach into. When you understand this (and my guess is you cannot) you then realize why the district would prefer a voter-approved budget with less spending rather than a contingency budget with more spending.

      For example, last year like this year, the same people selling this year’s budget told residents that the district’s proposed budget was less than the contingency budget and so approving the district’s proposed budget would mean LESS spending. The district then turned around and raised the reserve fund so that it is about half the legal limit, and much smaller than normal, and basically engaged in deficit spending to the tune of $5mm. Under a contingency budget, the amount authorized under the budget would be FIXED by the State of New York and would not allow for millions in deficit spending. The district would have had to make actual cuts starting last year.

      Having displayed complete ignorance of the budget process, you then offer residents a Hobson’s Choice (google that one yourself):

      “if you’re happy with the schools, you have to pay for what we are receiving. If you are unhappy, then you have to improve the pedagogical infrastructure.”

      Rough translation, if you are satisfied with the schools you need to pay more so supporting getting “good” schools, if you are unhappy with the schools you need to pay more to “improve” the schools. Either way, voters must always agree to pay more. No where in this formulation is there room for the idea that there is a limit to what residents can afford or that there should be any correlation between property values and the school budget even though property taxes account for close to 80% of the district’s revenue. Of course, all of this forgets that in the boom years, the argument was that the quality of the school DRIVES property values so that “investing” in the public school pays off in higher home values. Funny how now that property values have dropped 35% since 2006 we do not hear that argument anymore.

      If you believe this makes sense then you will like the logic of people like board member Mary Jane Reddington. Last week she praised the administration for proposing a budget that was being cut for the first time in her memory on the board (since 1983). A moment later she bemoaned the long-term tend of the decline of the assessed value of property. She then tried to use that trend to complain about how every year the district has to “do more with less”. Her first statement was correct — budgets have been increase every year, far out stripping inflation (and for the past 4 years outstripping property values) so the district has, in fact, been “doing more with much more” for many decades.

      My favorite part of this inane comment comes at the end. Our “truth-fllled” commenters admonishes critics to “do your research” before “slinging mud” and then claims that “CSDNR is a finalist for the Race To The Top”.

      Race To The Top is a federal program which will award money to STATES. New York State was selected as one of 16 finalists. No one in New York believes that New York State will actually get any money as a result because the State legislature refused to approve changes needed to put the State in a position to win. In either case, states, not school districts are competing for the money so CSDNR is not a finalist for RTTP.

      Had you said New Rochelle provides “the highest quality education to SOME students” I might have agreed with you. When you say “highest quality education” the word “highest” is a relative term. So, if you care to do so, I would be interested to hear more about your reference point. “Highest” relative to what? Highest among public schools in Southern Westchester? No. Highest in New York State? No. Highest just in New Rochelle? No. So, highest relative to what exactly?

      There are many wonderful programs in the New Rochelle public schools, many wonderful teachers, even a few good administrators. We have a top-flight arts program, sports program, gifted-and-talented program and many other excellent programs taught by excellent dedicated teachers. But you have to recognize both the good and the bad in New Rochelle and the flip-side of the excellence that can be found in New Rochelle public schools is that we also have a high level of violence at NRHS and ALMS, only about 55% of latino students and about 70% of black/African-American students graduated on time, of those that do graduate on time a good number of those get near-worthless “local diplomas”, too many of the excellent programs are disproportionately represented by “North End” students, and anyone who has been to the academic awards ceremony each spring at NRHS can tell you that in a school that is more than two-thirds minority students, the Top 100 students are about 90% white.

      Responsible leadership is not about who can cheer the loudest of New Rochelle but who is willing to look problems in the eye, take them on and begin to fix them.

      1. NewRo Taxes
        Great comments. Great facts. Very eloquent.

        Since not too many people read this website, do you have any ideas about what we can do to stop the tax increase besides writing blogs and attending the public hearings?

        How can we rally the taxpayers to act and wake up the Board and the Supt. before the vote takes place?

      2. what do you suggest?
        As we live in a democracy the best way to bring about change is at the ballot box.

        I am not sure what you have against writing articles and speaking at board meetings but at the end of the day it is about convincing voters to turn out and vote.

        I have some ideas on what needs to be done.

    2. The comments expressed by
      The comments expressed by The Truth are not the truth at all, but simply a comment from someone who does not live in New Rochelle and has never attended a Board of Ed meeting. Please visit the Board office and catch up on your minutes. Thank you.

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