Putnam backs state school tax reform
-
- March
- 19
The majority Republican Putnam County Legislature has backed sweeping tax reform legislation for school funding sponsored by Democratic state Assemblyman Kevin Cahill of Kingston.
The bill would call on the state to assume all education costs that would be paid for by taxes on personal income and business instead of real property taxes.
“The public is screaming for this,” Putnam Legislator Sam Oliverio, D-Putnam Valley, said today.
Oliverio, who serves as chairman of the Health, Social, Educational and Environmental Committee, said he hopes Putnam’s support for the school tax reform will gain momentum at the state level as Putnam’s anti-smoking initiative did earlier.
“I believe our actions were the trigger in getting the Senate and Assembly to pass state legislation against smoking,” said Oliverio, who is assistant principal at Putnam Valley High School.
Oliverio said he expects opposition to the bill from wealthy New Yorkers and developers.
“People have got to be brave and stand up,” Oliverio said. “This is a very good remedy. The very wealthy will pay their fair share.”
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 11:44 am by Susan Elan.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Share and Enjoy: 
| 
| 
Email This
The Putnam Legislature should be applauded for this move in the right direction. They are representing the will of the people. Last year they got the budget under control and were correct about the sales tax projections.
Greg Ball was all talk and attacked the County Executive and Legislature over the budget. What the Assemblyman failed to understand was that $100 million of the roughly $120 million budget went towards mandated expenses. What has Ball done to reduce State mandates on local governments and school districts?
What has Ball done to reduce the tax burden of Putnam homeowners?
Ball only cares about one thing: presenting the illusion of action so he can get his name in the paper…
i can’t believe i’m writing this but, oliverio is right. kevin cahill’s bill is the only real fix to our property tax system. cahill’s thoughtful approach to this issue and years of preparation has left ny with a real opportunity to finally reform school propery tax. this isn’t a quick fix like other bills supported by sandy galef (blue ribbon study) or greg ball (taxpayer protection pledge) – cahill’s bill would get the job done. putnam lawmakers have done a good thing in passing this resolution in support but i think they first need to work with sandy galef and greg ball to get them on board with their colleague’s bill.
How come Sam Oliverio did not go to the Assembly person who represedts the district he represents in Putnam Valley. That is because his representitve is Sandra Galef who supported quick fix legislation that will do nothing to help the problem. It will only make it worse. I give him credit for supporting a bill that will work and not one that will only make the problem worse.
It does seem like we need a change in Albany. Everyone has an idea, but no one will solve the problem. The only way to do school tax reform is to cut spending. If they have less money, they have to do with less. Simple solution.
Sam, about time you do something – for years you have done nothing. I guess you are up for reelection and you probably have a serious challenger.
Let’s hope for support and movement on a bill that would ease the burdon on property owners and go to an income base. Dont expect Ball to support this as it is not his idea and he would not be the center of attention.
Everyone write to your representatives and ask that they support a change in how school are funded. Support this bill.
There is a full writeup of the meeting along with a short 3 minute video of some of the discussion and the vote on the PlanPutnam website. [http://www.planputnam.org]
We really need to be thanking Vic Tiship and Jeff Green of PlanPutnam for leading the fight for this in Putnam County.
Jeff hopes that people will take the county resolution (also posted to the website) to their towns for passage and hopes that this will get the ball rolling in Albany for a permanent solution rather than the half-steps everyone else is taking.
You can reach him at jeff@planputnam.org
“Dont expect Ball to support this as it is not his idea and he would not be the center of attention.”
That’s the #1 with Greg Ball! If he can’t get his name in the paper over it or take credit, he won’t be involved. Like all local politicians, Greg was invited recently to a community event. We scheduled with the woman in his office and then she called back about a day or so later asking if Greg could make a speech and hand out certificates. Even though no other politician made this request, we figured, what the heck!? – so Ball shows up a half-hour late, makes his 5 min. speech, has a staffer take probably 30 pictures, and he’s out the door in 15 min… pathetic!