As a taxpayer....would you prefer to trim back on Education or Law Enforcement? (Babylon: houses, school districts)

[Crookhaven]

The single most important issue affecting the quality of life on Long Island is taxes.

We are beginning to see some bold initiatives from Albany regarding wasteful School spending.

Should we be seeing similar initiatves at the local level regarding Law Enforcement?

If it were up to you....would you prefer to trim back on Education or Law Enforcement?

Again no bashing and please stay on topic.




crookhaven

[dman72]

There need to be cuts across the board. Police and teachers are only part of the equation, but municipalities need to be more ambitious with their contract negotiations.

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by dman72

There need to be cuts across the board. Police and teachers are only part of the equation, but municipalities need to be more ambitious with their contract negotiations.

Of the two, your preference would be to cut Education first?

Lets try and stay on topic or begin a new thread on Municipalities


crookhaven

[dman72]

Originally Posted by Crookhaven

Of the two, your preference would be to cut Education first?

Lets try and stay on topic or begin a new thread on Municipalities


crookhaven

You asked if you would like to see cuts oh the local level, ie not the states. The municipalities are part of the local level.

The state does need to cut back on wasteful school spending. It also should restructure it's pension system for future hires and trim police budgets. In a perfect world, of course police budgets should be trimmed first, but I'm not sure wasteful police spending is anywhere near what is going on with school board corruption.

[TomMoser]

I think that there are many more wasteful things that could be cut back on then either police or teachers. We need to take a hard look at Library, Fire, Water, and Sewer Districts to name a few.

[dman72]

Originally Posted by TomMoser

I think that there are many more wasteful things that could be cut back on then either police or teachers. We need to take a hard look at Library, Fire, Water, and Sewer Districts to name a few.

I personally think that the library is one of the best uses of my tax dollars.

Giant firehouses, not so much.

[Danomul]

I would say education waste. The police tax is a drop in the bucket compared to the school taxes.

[I have a voice]

There is waste in both arena's. However, waste within the education system amount to more dollars and hence my choice, given a mutually exlcusive choice, would be to trim the fat within the education system. To me, the teachers aren't the issue. The issue is the administration and the duplicative levels of service. By simply consolidating some school districts, economies of scale would save tens of millions. We could create specialty schools as well, similar to those in NYC (the high performing schools of course).

[dman72]

Originally Posted by I have a voice

There is waste in both arena's. However, waste within the education system amount to more dollars and hence my choice, given a mutually exlcusive choice, would be to trim the fat within the education system. To me, the teachers aren't the issue. The issue is the administration and the duplicative levels of service. By simply consolidating some school districts, economies of scale would save tens of millions. We could create specialty schools as well, similar to those in NYC (the high performing schools of course).

I agree, but then tell someone who lives in Babylon that their kids will now be part of the same district as those in North Babylon....good luck.

There is also plenty of waste in giant school districts like Sachem, where taxes are very high, so consolidating services is a good idea, but will not cure the problems.

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by dman72

You asked if you would like to see cuts oh the local level, ie not the states. The municipalities are part of the local level.

The state does need to cut back on wasteful school spending. It also should restructure it's pension system for future hires and trim police budgets. In a perfect world, of course police budgets should be trimmed first, but I'm not sure wasteful police spending is anywhere near what is going on with school board corruption.

So your answer is Education

Fair enough.

Thanks for weighing in

crookhaven