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Legislative Action NetworkMay 1, 2009 Oppose Efforts to Tax School Districts to Bail Out the MTAThe state and county have considered a number of measures this year that would shift millions of dollars in costs to school districts. Among them is a new .33% payroll tax on all employers within the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) region, which includes Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and would cost Roslyn taxpayers in excesss of $180,000 next year. One version of the MTA bailout would make this tax retroactive to January 1, 2009, forcing school districts to fund part of this "tax" from the current year's school budget. The impact on Roslyn taxpayers would be more than $88,000 in 2008-09. EMAIL, FAX OR CALL THE GOVERNOR AND YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TODAY! Below is a sample letter. You can either print, sign and mail it to your elected representatives, or you can cut and paste the contents into an email. (The letter is in MS Word. The text of the letter also appears below in case you are unable to open the file.) Scroll down this page to find mail and email contact information for our elected state representatives, including Governor Paterson, Senator Johnson, Assemblywoman Schimel, Assemblyman Levine and the senate and assembly leaders. • Sample Letter Opposing the MTA Bailout Plan
• Call the offices of our state's elected leaders:
SAMPLE LETTER AGAINST TAXING SCHOOLS TO BAIL OUT THE MTA:
May __, 2009 Dear [Governor Patterson, Senator Johnson, Assemblyman Lavine, Assemblywoman Schimel], We are opposed to the efforts of the state, counties and the MTA to shift their funding responsibilities onto local Long Island school budgets. Our real property taxes are already disproportionately high and unsustainable. Within days of the adoption of final school budgets for voter approval, and with only two months left in this fiscal year, Long Island’s school boards are now faced with the possibility of having to find $12.2 million from their 2008-09 school budgets to pay for the MTA bailout. This would be in addition to the estimated $24.4 million that would have to be drawn from 2009-10 school budgets that will be voted on in May. In Roslyn, the cost would be more than $88,000 this year and an additional $180,000 in 2009-10. School districts are not ATM’s to be used to fund other levels of government. We call upon you to stop taxing us and mandating us out of our homes, schools and suburban way of life. Sincerely, EMAIL LINKS FOR ELECTED OFFICIALSUnited States
President Barack Obama
New York State
Gov. David Paterson
Long Island Senate Delegation:
Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, Speaker Nassau County
County Executive Thomas Suozzi
Legislative Action is a Year-Round EffortWorking with our elected representatives for the benefit of New York's students and schools is a year-round effort. The fair allocation of state aid to education is an issue that will continue to have major ramifications in the years to come. We urge residents and taxpayers to familiarize themselves with this and other important legislative issues and continue their efforts to communicate with state officials. |