Tax cap...wish or reality and how will it affect districts?

[dma1250]

Originally Posted by jjinla

How do you find out which ones have a consistent record of approving budgets?

Hmm.. I just looked at my district's website and it lists the results for the last budget vote, so I can see that the budget passed by more than 75%. It also has all of the details on the budget, including the required increase to property taxes. But it does not list results from previous years. So then I googled it and got articles on recent budget passages--so I imagine that if one had not been passed recently there would certainly be articles on that that would come up in a google search. That's not a quick and easy way, but it should get you basic info on a district's budget voting habits. I'd also ask your realtor.

[tammy42]

Originally Posted by jjinla

How do you find out which ones have a consistent record of approving budgets?

If you have a short list of schools you are looking at, you could probably call their district offices and ask them if a budget has ever not passed - or at least recently not passed. For my district I was in most of the BOE budget meetings and the debates were very heated (mostly about teacher contracts and a potential salary increase for the superintendent), but although the public was dismayed with the process, the budget passed. Folks just didn't want to see school programs suffer.

Last year, the only Westchester schools which didn't pass their budget were Pocantico Hills, Ossining, Katonah and Mount Vernon.

[NYGirl128]

We went for a bigger house in Eastchester over a smaller house in Bronxville because it's not just housing that's more expensive. The very high end incomes in Scarsdale/Bronxville make it hard to be a family at the lower end. There's less of that in Eastchester but it's not problem free.

I'm a lifelong democrat who is fed up with the tax situation as well. Another issue in addition to pensions/benefits for state workers is that Westchester has far too many school districts. Every district has it's own highly paid administrative staffs which don't add much to the education system. You could cut substantial cost by consolidating say, Eastchester, Tuckahoe, Bronxville and Scarsdale into one district, or even the River towns. The superindents alone would save over $1 million with benefits. But people in the towns don't want to give up the school identities.