I was so excited, it had finally arrived in the mail.
No, it wasn’t a letter from the IRS. It wasn’t a jury notice or a lawyer’s letter either. It wasn’t even a notice from my draft board (remember that one?) It was my school taxes.
This year, I thought I had very little to worry about. Thanks to Gov. Cuomo’s 2 percent tax cap, at most my taxes could only be raised a measly 2 percent.
But to my utter amazement, guess what happened when we opened up the bill?
According to Newsday, over the last two years school tax rates jumped an average of 19.1 percent.
Mine went up 12 percent this year alone. This is lunacy!
Let the finger pointing begin. The experts all claimed that we had a lower tax base this year, there was a successful reassessment program caused by years of high taxes and there was a tax shift from commercial properties to single family homes.
High taxes always drives businesses away. Since Obamacare mandates health coverage for all employees working more than 30 hours per week, many businesses are reducing their workforce or changing it to a part time staff.
Of course this cutback results in less taxes collected.
So, let’s see who else contributed to this huge rise in my tax bill.
How about my state assemblyman and my state senator, and all the other Republicans who joined with the Democrats, and allowed the teacher’s union to interject certain union cutouts or exemptions from the 2 percent tax cap bill.
How about those of you who voted to allow your own school boards to pierce the 2 percent tax cap.
By the way, there were lots of you guys out there, because the new law requires 60 percent to override it in a second vote. Now do you see the results of your vote?
And most of all what about the local school boards themselves who again did not have the guts to reduce their extravagant spending in any meaningful way.
I can’t be the only one who is just fed up. Why don’t you call your representatives in Albany who allowed school districts to override the will of the people and succumb to the teachers union once again?
How about calling your local school board members as well, and tell them how you feel about a 20 percent increase in your school taxes.
And don’t let them tell you that 80 percent of the budget is discretionary and can’t be reduced. That’s just not true and pure union propaganda.
Ask Scott Walker in Wisconsin or Chris Christie in New Jersey how they did it. I have heard that lame excuse for the past 40 years and they are still using it today.
Think it’s only us on Long Island?
Bloated budgets due to years of extravagant spending policies and absurd union contracts can be found everywhere.
Did you ever hear of a rubber room?
If a New York City school teacher is brought up on charges for any serious offense, like sexual or physical crimes, the city and the teacher’s union agreed, three years ago, to remove them from the classroom.
They are permitted to come to work every day, and collect their full pay and benefits until the issues are resolved. Don’t forget that they are still innocent until proven guilty.
But, the worse part of this process is that the arbitration procedure may take six to nine months or even longer. The rooms, now scattered around the city, where these accused teachers are housed each and every school day, are called rubber rooms.
Since the teacher’s union represents them pro bono, and since this same union must agree to the arbitrators chosen in each case, this process seems to go on indefinitely.
Three hundred and twenty six accused teachers sit and collect their normal salaries, each and every school day, doing absolutely nothing. Some are accused of molesting their students, some for physically abusing them.
What’s the cost? $29 million each year. By the way, since the next NYC mayor will most likely be the UFT-supported, Democrat De Blasio, do you think this policy will ever change?
That brings me to the NYC historic landmark, Carnegie Hall. Now don’t tell me that this is different because it’s a private-sector entity. You are only partially correct. Every taxpayer indirectly pays for Carnegie Hall since we give organizations like that a tax-exempt status. Our donations as well as millions in government endowments and grants are all taxpayer supported.
Carnegie Hall is building a new education wing. James J. Claffey, president of Local One, of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees wants his own union members (stage hands) to replace other union employees currently performing maintenance there. Nothing wrong with that, unions always fight over jurisdiction. Now I’ll tell you what’s really wrong with it.
The average pay with benefits of a Carnegie Hall stage hand is a whopping $420,000. I know that’s hard for you to believe, just look it up. That’s a stagehand and they don’t even have to play the violin.
Dennis O’Connell, Carnegie Hall’s property manager makes $465,000, CFO Richard Matlaga makes $428,000 and the executive and artistic director Clive Gillinson earns $1,113,571 per year.
Let’s hear from all you progressives out there who always criticize the huge corporate CEO compensation packages. What do you think about this one or are you only bothered when it’s a Morgan Stanley or Mobil?
By the way, just in case you haven’t heard, the New York City Opera Co. just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and it looks like they will sell off all of their assets and totally disband.
This New York City legend, going back almost a century, will be gone forever.
As a young student, this opera company first introduced me to “La Boheme” and “Tosca,” when it first offered it’s low student price tickets. They were the first to introduce the heretical concept of Italian operas sung in English, so we neophytes could finally understand what they were saying. They started subtitles for all of us to read as well. Most importantly, they introduced young, unknown American composers.
How proud was I to be able to see “Lucia,” staring the first great Jewish opera star, Belle Silverman. You probably know her as the great soprano, Beverly Sills. The new, unknown tenor, Placido Domingo also got his start at the City Opera. All for $20 a ticket!
What caused its demise? You can probably guess. Just like Detroit, Chrysler and Greece, it was caused by huge cost overruns, unsustainable pension liabilities, unrealistic salaries and a drastic reduction in taxpayer dollars.
Sound familiar Long Island? School districts, unions, politicians, taxpayers and America as a whole need to wake up.
Unfortunately, It’s probably too late.
Stephen Morris
North Hills
