School taxes were the whipping boy Friday when the Assembly Republican Task Force on Real Property Tax Reform took testimony in Schoharie.
Speaker after speaker complained that they have no control over school budgets.
For their part, superintendents like Gordon Daniels of Franklin Central School, a district about the size of Sharon Springs and located in northern Delaware County, said they have no say in the assessment process.
“We’re affected by the same things [rising expenses] you are,” he told the Assembly‘s Nancy Calhoun, task force chair, and Pete Lopez, who’s not a member of the task force, but hosted the forum.
“We have no ownership in assessments,” Mr. Daniels said. “We’re given an assessment rate and we plug that in. We don’t have a lot of businesses in Franklin, but the school is the heart of my community.”
Jefferson Central School Superintendent Carl Mummenthey, another small district, said they’re plagued by mandates for costly special education programs that only serve a handful of JCS students.
Though the state reimburses schools for 90 percent of those costs, Mr. Mummenthey said the money doesn’t come until the following budget year.
He suggested creating a reserve fund for special education money, an idea Robert Bonaker, business manager for Schoharie Central School, endorsed.
Betsy Bernocco, Richmondville supervisor, said her town did a complete property tax re-evaluation in 2005 and it was “devastating.”
“Taxes are so high, there are inequities at every level…people are saying they don’t know how they’re going to pay their taxes,” she said.
“It’s a broken system that needs to be fixed. People are going to go bankrupt.”
Without real relief, Assemblywoman Calhoun said, the situation’s only going to worsen for the very families and businesses that are paying taxes.
Schoharie County is already feeling that crunch, said Alicia Terry, director of County Planning.
County taxes are the 44th highest in the country, she said, something “that challenges my office to attract and retain businesses” and not all that successfully.
One family-owned businesses has decided against a planned expansion, she said, and she’s just waiting for the tax reality to hit another business from New Hampshire that’s grown jobs at a plant in Cobleskill from 40 to 62.
“They’re very happy here and they would like to grow, but knowing they’re comparing us to New Hampshire…We’re up against some big hurdles.”
Ms. Terry also cited the former Guilford Mills building, bought for $2 million three years ago and being billed for $300,000 in taxes each year “for a facility that sits vacant.”
Assemblywoman Calhoun pointed out that most tax reform proposals are looking at the residential side of the equation, “but if we start taking away from the residential side, we don’t want to shift the budget to the commercial side.
“Someone bought it [Guilford Mills]. They had a purpose. We need to find a way for the state to help get someone in that property.”
Earl Van Wormer of Esperance, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said most people find the equalization rate very confusing and feel they have no control over school taxes.
He suggested the state use some school districts as models to evaluate how alternatives such as shifting to income taxes to fund schools would impact property taxes.
Mr. Bonaker said he believes people should be taxed according to their ability to pay, “but state aid to schools is not being distributed according to need.”
Additional forums are being held around the state.