Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6 and it can’t come here soon enough.
Mailboxes, television and social Media are full of messaging from all candidates touting how wonderful they are or how horrible their opponent is. This article is for Long Island residents who are still undecided, who want to tune out the noise and cast an informed vote.
Any polling done on Long Island reveals high property taxes as the largest non-partisan issue, by far.
A distant second is usually public schools and after that, depending on what’s recently been highlighted in the media, could be the environment, gun control, a woman’s right to choose, immigration, terrorism, gang violence, infrastructure, health care, prescription drug pricing or opioid abuse. With that being said, please consider where the candidates stand on these local issues before you vote:
Taxes – President Trump signed a major tax reform bill into law late December 2017. One significant negative, it limits itemized state and local tax deductions off your federal return to $10,000. This law, also known as SALT, unfairly targets Long Islanders, who suffer from some of the highest property taxes in the nation. Please consider any candidate on the Federal level who has promised to work to repeal this onerous law from the tax code.
Did your elected representatives, whether on the Federal or state level, forcefully fight against the loss of state and local tax deductions when it was announced or were they strangely silent?
Did aspiring candidates in your district address SALT during their campaigns? Where a candidate stands on these pocketbook issues looms large in any election.
Public Schools – One reason Long Island remains a top destination to raise a family, albeit an expensive one, is the wide variety of quality public education. If our public schools don’t continue to be well funded and rank among the best in the nation, businesses won’t move or stay here, and housing values will drop. How are the candidates on protecting public education?
Infrastructure – It’s no secret the LIRR is an unholy mess. Has your elected official supported investment in system repairs and track upgrades?
Where did they stand on the much delayed third track from Floral Park to Hicksville as we went through the “summer of hell?” Are aspiring candidates making a safer and resilient LIRR a talking point in their campaigns? Without a reliable LIRR commuting on Long Island will be difficult and traffic will remain unbearable.
Environment – Every time it rains hard, north and south shore beaches must close because of excess sewage runoff. It’s only going to get worse. Sewers aren’t sexy and don’t win elections, but elected officials need to make protecting Long Island’s aquifers a priority now, before it’s too late.
Also, Long Island has some of the worst air quality in the state. Do the incumbents and candidates in your district speak about protecting groundwater and pursuing alternative energy to protect the environment? They should.
Health Care, Prescription Drugs and Opioids – All politicians would like to give away free health care, lower prescription drug prices and stop opioid abuse if government could afford it.
But the question remains, how do you pay for it all? What are viable solutions that will cross party lines? These issues aren’t going to go away any time soon, and everyone running for office should have a thoughtful position on these important issues.
I didn’t touch on gun control, a woman’s right to choose and a host of other topics, because I chose to stay away from issues where there seems to be little common ground. I do want to highlight my favorite creative proposal from this campaign season, which comes from state Senate candidate Jim Gaughran.
Gaughran advocates taking the revenue generated from the sports books that New York will inevitably create to compete with New Jersey who already has one, and use the proceeds to directly offset property taxes.
Long Island needs additional thoughtful solutions to high property taxes such as that.
Thomas Jefferson said it best, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.” The government Long Island elects is up to you.
