You may have heard that New Jersey Governor John Corzine has called a special session of the New Jersey State legislature to tackle the “intractable” issue of high New Jersey property taxes. He plans to reduce pensions and benefits for new employees, to offset the cost of the pension enrichment for those cashing in and moving out, and borrowing against the pension funds, passed during the Whitman Administration. He plans to try to entice, or force, New Jersey’s high-spending school districts to consolidate to cut costs. And, he plans to raise other taxes, perhaps at the state level, to offset a property tax decline. Those are tough stands. Compared with the next Governor of New York, however, the fact is Corzine has it easy.
Category: News and Opinion
Property Taxes: Corzine Has It Easy
|You may have heard that New Jersey Governor John Corzine has called a special session of the New Jersey State legislature to tackle the “intractable” issue of high New Jersey property taxes. He plans to reduce pensions and benefits for new employees, to offset the cost of the pension enrichment for those cashing in and moving out, and borrowing against the pension funds, passed during the Whitman Administration. He plans to try to entice, or force, New Jersey’s high-spending school districts to consolidate to cut costs. And, he plans to raise other taxes, perhaps at the state level, to offset a property tax decline. Those are tough stands. Compared with the next Governor of New York, however, the fact is Corzine has it easy.
Property Taxes: Corzine Has It Easy
|You may have heard that New Jersey Governor John Corzine has called a special session of the New Jersey State legislature to tackle the “intractable” issue of high New Jersey property taxes. He plans to reduce pensions and benefits for new employees, to offset the cost of the pension enrichment for those cashing in and moving out, and borrowing against the pension funds, passed during the Whitman Administration. He plans to try to entice, or force, New Jersey’s high-spending school districts to consolidate to cut costs. And, he plans to raise other taxes, perhaps at the state level, to offset a property tax decline. Those are tough stands. Compared with the next Governor of New York, however, the fact is Corzine has it easy.
Property Taxes: Corzine Has It Easy
|You may have heard that New Jersey Governor John Corzine has called a special session of the New Jersey State legislature to tackle the “intractable” issue of high New Jersey property taxes. He plans to reduce pensions and benefits for new employees, to offset the cost of the pension enrichment for those cashing in and moving out, and borrowing against the pension funds, passed during the Whitman Administration. He plans to try to entice, or force, New Jersey’s high-spending school districts to consolidate to cut costs. And, he plans to raise other taxes, perhaps at the state level, to offset a property tax decline. Those are tough stands. Compared with the next Governor of New York, however, the fact is Corzine has it easy.
Out on a Limb
|I’m going to stick my neck out here and predict that, ultimately, the continuing saga of the possible computer tampering at the NYC Board of Elections will turn out to be a lot of sound and fury, signifying very little. Not that I’m entirely dismissing the concerns expressed by Maurice Gumbs in his 83 part series posted elsewhere on “Room 8”, but a criminal conspiracy seems to me an unlikely scenario. I'd be more scared if I believed that anyone competent worked at the Board (of course, it's also kinda scary that there ain't). The Board is where the County Organizations bury their neediest cases (right up to the Board's Counsel's Office); the best and the brightest go elsewhere. In general, the Board of Elections couldn't organize an orgy at a convention of nymphomaniacs
Happy Anniversary Dodger (Part 2 of 2)
|When I left off on the first part of this column (see Rock Hackshaw’s blogs/Room Eight), I had given you all the story of how Roger Green got his nickname (the Dodger) in 1986.
I also gave a brief history of his subsequent ride downhill. Well, that’s brings us to today, where as of this writing, Roger is still a candidate for Congress in the 10th Congressional District. He is facing both incumbent Ed Towns and insurgent challenger NYC Councilmember Charles Barron.
With four fortnights to the election, Green filed that he had raised around forty thousand dollars, spent all of it plus, owed another twenty thousand or so, and held about four thousand cash on hand. This has led to all kinds of speculation as to why he is even in this race. Everyone knows that to run a credible Assembly race one needs around sixty thousand dollars (and this is a low-ball figure); with that in mind, figure the cost of running a congressional race, where you are tackling about 5 times an Assembly district in size.
The Losers
|In several past posts, and in several future posts, I’ve discussed the winners, those categories of services and people who get far more public funding here than the national average, in some cases more than in anywhere else in the United States. But despite state and local taxes that were 43% higher than the national average in FY 2004, relative to personal income, and lots of fee income besides, taxpayers are not the only losers in New York City.
Spending on the city’s public schools has been below national average as a share of income, often far below, as far back as the data goes. Parks, recreation and culture had been above the national average until1989, Ed Koch’s last year in office. It has been far below average ever since, despite lots of private donations. Major transportation projects are proposed and planned, but never built here. Yesterday, the Daily News reported that the city’s libraries are rarely open. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/441273p-371556c.html. No surprise there.
The Losers
|In several past posts, and in several future posts, I’ve discussed the winners, those categories of services and people who get far more public funding here than the national average, in some cases more than in anywhere else in the United States. But despite state and local taxes that were 43% higher than the national average in FY 2004, relative to personal income, and lots of fee income besides, taxpayers are not the only losers in New York City.
Spending on the city’s public schools has been below national average as a share of income, often far below, as far back as the data goes. Parks, recreation and culture had been above the national average until1989, Ed Koch’s last year in office. It has been far below average ever since, despite lots of private donations. Major transportation projects are proposed and planned, but never built here. Yesterday, the Daily News reported that the city’s libraries are rarely open. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/441273p-371556c.html. No surprise there.
The Losers
|In several past posts, and in several future posts, I’ve discussed the winners, those categories of services and people who get far more public funding here than the national average, in some cases more than in anywhere else in the United States. But despite state and local taxes that were 43% higher than the national average in FY 2004, relative to personal income, and lots of fee income besides, taxpayers are not the only losers in New York City.
Spending on the city’s public schools has been below national average as a share of income, often far below, as far back as the data goes. Parks, recreation and culture had been above the national average until1989, Ed Koch’s last year in office. It has been far below average ever since, despite lots of private donations. Major transportation projects are proposed and planned, but never built here. Yesterday, the Daily News reported that the city’s libraries are rarely open. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/441273p-371556c.html. No surprise there.
The Losers
|In several past posts, and in several future posts, I’ve discussed the winners, those categories of services and people who get far more public funding here than the national average, in some cases more than in anywhere else in the United States. But despite state and local taxes that were 43% higher than the national average in FY 2004, relative to personal income, and lots of fee income besides, taxpayers are not the only losers in New York City.
Spending on the city’s public schools has been below national average as a share of income, often far below, as far back as the data goes. Parks, recreation and culture had been above the national average until1989, Ed Koch’s last year in office. It has been far below average ever since, despite lots of private donations. Major transportation projects are proposed and planned, but never built here. Yesterday, the Daily News reported that the city’s libraries are rarely open. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/441273p-371556c.html. No surprise there.