[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by 1luvvt

i maybe mistaken but, i think NJ's teacher unions are the worst(or best, depending which side your on) in the country. again JMO. I personally don't think you can put a price on education, to me it is almost the most important thing to the country. on the other hand, i don't think it should cost the millions the buget claims they need. it is my opinion that if they had to itemize to the cent where money is being"spent" they wouldn't be able to acount for it all.
again sorry , JMO.

I don't know about NJ's teachers unions, so I will defer to your opinion on that one.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by GypsySoul22

It's the main problem taxes are so high on Long Island, Bee. (oh, and add to it local corruption, including stealing from the schools..)

The school district budget increases are always greater than the cost of living; teacher contracts are always higher than it, too. The school districts (as well as the sheeply who keep voting YES) have to realize that the tax coffers are finite. They can't get blood from a stone.

Much of the money that ALL NYers pay into school taxes gets inproportionately passed on to NYC and the other big 4 cities within the state. People in multimillion dollar condos in Manhattan are paying far less than people in tiny Levitt houses who are fighting to make ends meet. That's just wrong!

When John Q Public sits down and plans his budget, he knows he has X number of dollars coming in and plans accordingly. The districts are going to have to stop kowtowing to the teacher's unions and ask that they pay more into their benefits (how many teachers on LI are paying $1300/month for family health insurance like I am?)

I've gotten off topic and I am sorry.

I just hope that VTers take a good hard look at the funding system in NYS and try their hardest to prevent it from happening within the great state of Vermont. It's a nightmare which will sound a death knell for many long term, native VTers as well as some newly transplanted whose housing and job situations are still tenuous at best.

Vermont is a place I have come to cherish and the last thing I want is it to get NYed or NJed.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by tkln

OH, what I meant to add to that is I believe that natural gas is more common in larger cities/municipalities where it is commonly run by underground pipes, etc...it is not cost effective to run natural gas through rural areas, so oil heat is more common. Electric is also common from what I've experienced...I have seen some homes use propane as well.

I believe that you're right about the ease of running municipal pipes in areasd with a higher population density.

An odd thing that is in my area on LI is that there is natural gas run up to a certain point, once one crosses a particular east-west thoroughfare, the gas lines cease. I attribute that to the fact the many homes north of this line were primarily summer homes for wealthy city people. The didn't need gas for heat -- if it was a cool summer even, they would light a fire.

LI was formed during the last ice age by glaciers from the north; as the receded, they left behind a lump of debris (Boy does that sound attractive! LOL) which is now LI. The south shore (Atlantic ocean) is mostly sand soil and is very easy to dig into. There are many developments down that way which have gas from the mains. The north shore is more rocky (LI Sound) as well as hilly. Digging here one is guaranteed to hit a few glacial erratics. (I have a good sized one in the yard that we hit when excavating for an out building.)

My theory, which would apply as well in VT, given the amount of ledge in some areas, is that the ledge in VT as well as the glacial erratics down here make running a central gas main a very costly proposition. The initial expense for a natural gas company to come into a town would be very expensive, plus it would have to assure itself that a certain percentage of an area's residents would convert to NG.

[arel]

What are "ledge" and "glacial erratics"?

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by arel

What are "ledge" and "glacial erratics"?

I will ask the true Vters to correct me in my definition of ledge: it is massive amounts of stone (perhaps granite?) that can't be penetrated by a shovel or back hoe when excavating. It is my understanding that it has to be blasted or drilled.

A glacial erratic is a boulder that was pushed along by the glacier and then left behind as the glacier receded. Some of them are buried, some are on the surface. The glacial erratic is made up of a stone which is not the same stone normally found in the area -- if you were to dig deep down under LI, the glacial erratics would not match that bedrock. They might match up with bedrock from Upstate NY, CT, MA, VT or Canada, though.

[arel]

Thanks. Your explanations were clear and easy to understand.

[1luvvt]

Originally Posted by OhBeeHave

Vermont is a place I have come to cherish and the last thing I want is it to get NYed or NJed.

I too feel the same about Vermont. I would like to add one last thought.In my town it has been over 25 years since they passed a school budget. lots of fixed income communities in the area. This doesn't mean that taxes don't go up,it just mean that the city borrows money and in the long run is even more then if the budget increase was approved. i don't know what the right answer is. but it seems to me that an extreme on either end is bad. the town claims 68 percent of our taxes go to the school.

[flu189]

Since schools and taxes have been the recent topic of interest, the past few days have been worthy of remembering two lines from everyone's favorite Marine, Gomer Pyle: "Surprise, Surprise" and "Shazaam", oh wait, also "Golleeey". Tax relief will not be on the agenda this year as I just found out my town will increase their rate from last year from .40 to .45 per $100 which is over 12%. This morning the news informs us that the proposed .02 state reduction in school taxes is now off the table and our local district/union is looking forward to an 8% increase. Then I found out that my pay increase will be only 1.8% this year and my wife took a 20% cut by being cut down one day per week. The tensile strength of the cables and ties that bind many folks to Vermont are being stressed to the point of failure. With the economic troubles at all levels we are expected to tighten our belts and spend more wisely, but it seems that our govt representatives are very much out of touch and feel that there is more available to extract.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by flu189

Since schools and taxes have been the recent topic of interest, the past few days have been worthy of remembering two lines from everyone's favorite Marine, Gomer Pyle: "Surprise, Surprise" and "Shazaam", oh wait, also "Golleeey". Tax relief will not be on the agenda this year as I just found out my town will increase their rate from last year from .40 to .45 per $100 which is over 12%. This morning the news informs us that the proposed .02 state reduction in school taxes is now off the table and our local district/union is looking forward to an 8% increase. Then I found out that my pay increase will be only 1.8% this year and my wife took a 20% cut by being cut down one day per week. The tensile strength of the cables and ties that bind many folks to Vermont are being stressed to the point of failure. With the economic troubles at all levels we are expected to tighten our belts and spend more wisely, but it seems that our govt representatives are very much out of touch and feel that there is more available to extract.

We here on LI share your pain. I am sorry that you have to deal with such ludicriousness. It slays me that the districts can expect increases far and above the COL and expect everyone to pay.

I know I've squawked about paying non resident tax rates and all, but what the heck are the districts doing with money they collect from people such as myself? Those of us who pay into the system but don't use it? My home is a regular little house (under 2000 sq ft). We didn't buy anything lavish, it's simple, compact and just a neat, happy place. My taxes in VT are starting to rise by LI standards. It is scary -- especially considering it is the school portion that is strangling people in both states.

How about imposing luxury taxes on the high end Ski McMansions, timeshares & vacation condos before they are built/sold? If someone can afford to drop a few million on a house he sees a few weeks per year, and probably makes money renting out the remainder of the time, he can pony up that extra money for the schools!

Sweet lord there would be plenty of money to be had there.

[tkln]

I know that there are a few areas in VT that charge an impact fee on new development, but I think that goes towards the cost of infrastructure, and not schools.

I know that Stowe's school budget went up as well, but according to the school board, they can't do anything about it - though student enrollment remains the same (and has gone down in prior years), the costs remain the same - plus the schools are now dealing with increased fuel costs, and the buildings are also in desperate need of repairs...plus the resort towns with higher real estate value get socked with higher taxes, as they subsidize the smaller town schools...

The whole tax structure needs a huge overhaul, but I just don't see it happening any time soon.