Long Island homeowners question school tax hikes after districts received pandemic aid
OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. -- The economic squeeze could get worse on Long Island due to a possible school tax hike, which residents didn't think would happen since dozens of districts received a windfall in pandemic aid.
Maria and Dominguez Lopes, of Old Westbury, are on a fixed income and saw the school tax hike headlines -- 1.9%.
"The economy today is out of control," Dominguez Lopes told CBS2's Jennifer McLogan.
Inside the Sweet Hollow Diner in Melville, school levies were debated.
"I don't think it should go up anymore," one person said.
"Taxes are quite disproportionate," another person said.
"If it's for schools, I don't mind at all," another person said.
School taxes are a key economic factor on Long Island, where they account for more than 60% of homeowners' tax bills.
"The 1.9% is a record low," said Lorraine Deller, of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association. "Of paramount importance at this point in time is the mental wellbeing of our students."
She says struggles are projected for a decade but that funding could dissipate in two years.
The funding is a windfall. Since 2020, Long Island schools gained more than $850 million in federal pandemic relief money.
"The unprecedented amount of state and federal aid to Long Island schools, it's astonishing that they continue to raise taxes," said Kyle Strober, with the Association for a Better Long Island.
Strober says with soaring prices of gasoline and groceries, this is the year to hold the line.
The association wants the state Department of Education to create incentives and reward school districts that put forth budgets with zero tax increase.
"One of the traditions in Long Island is having very strong schools ... If we try to pay for recurring expenses with one-shot revenues, we are going to be in trouble," said Dr. Robert Dillon, superintendent of Nassau BOCES.
"I know that our education is really good here, which is why we moved here," Westbury homeowner and parent Diana Rebholz said.
Rebholz, a mother of three, is a propmaster on Broadway who commutes into the city on the Long Island Rail Road. She does not want to focus on growing expenses and school tax hikes.
