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With all the threads pertaining to LI's high taxes. And all of the threads debating the merit of spending the majority of our tax money on schools. Without descdending in to another debate over cops and teacher salaries, would you support a consolidation of school districts to reel in costs and lower taxes?
The cost of administering 127 independent school districts on LI is an enormous expense. Consolidation would drop the cost and associated tax burden dramatically.
As passionate as people on this board are about tax relief, folks are equally if not more myopic about keeping their districts intact. Especially if they live in a district with good schools.
I ask the question, would you approve of consolidating LI school districts if it meant a 50% reduction to your tax bill?
Many things need to be consolidated on long Island including Fire Depts and water Districts. It's time Nassau and Suffolk stop acting like small town America and see that they are a giant metropolis needing more centralized control and administration
No.
Consolidation would not change the three legislative issues at the root of soaring school budgets - Taylor Law, Contingency Law and pension funding requierements.
All Long Island school and fire departments should be consolidated into township level school districts and fire departments. A single county fire department or school district would lead to another version of the Suffolk County Police which we don't want. Township level would at least allow for some local involvement. Meaning Suffolk County would have 10 school districts and 10 fire departments.
The FDs would also be x% career and x% volunteer, and would include EMS as well as Fire (meaning no more independent ambulance companies). Volunteers would not be allowed to hold command ranks, meaning all ranks would be held by career firefighters/EMTs/Paramedics via civil service exams. Rank structures should also be revised and simplified (ex. not having 5+ chiefs per department as is the current case).
I wonder where the "50% reduction" number came from... Is that a guess or did you do some fancy accounting?
Let me clarify so we don't get wrapped around the axle. The 50% number is arbitrary. This is completely a "what if" scenario.
I don't want to get in to a debate of what the actual savings would be, just to encourage thought and discussion on if people would be willing to give up the boutique schools structure on LI to bring taxes down to a reasonable level.
Walter, what is the difference between a Town, and a Township?
In many cases, there is no difference between what New York refers to as a town and what other states refer to as a township; however, there are states where a township can not be further sub-divided into other municipalities while in New York State towns can be sub-divided into villages, which themselves are municipal corporations.
This also opens the door to the difference between a village in New York State and, what are referred to as, villages in other states. In New York State, a village is a municipal corporation, while in most other states, a village is the downtown commercial area, akin to the colloquial Huntington Village, but is not a municipal corporation, just like Huntington Village is not a municipal corporation.
In many cases, there is no difference between what New York refers to as a town and what other states refer to as a township; however, there are states where a township can not be further sub-divided into other municipalities while in New York State towns can be sub-divided into villages, which themselves are municipal corporations.
This also opens the door to the difference between a village in New York State and, what are referred to as, villages in other states. In New York State, a village is a municipal corporation, while in most other states, a village is the downtown commercial area, akin to the colloquial Huntington Village, but is not a municipal corporation, just like Huntington Village is not a municipal corporation.
Now that we have that out of the way......
I cannot make a decision on a move like that without seeing how it would work. However, I don't think it would or should happen beyond an administrative level. If I wanted my kids to have to commute 15 or 20 miles to a school and have classmates from all over, I would move to the city.
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