When you vote on your school district budget next month, thank Albany if there’s an increase in your property tax levy. Albany gave us an MTA tax that takes valuable dollars away from students and gives it to the Transit Workers Union’s 11.5 percent pay increase over the next three years. Albany gave us defined-benefit public pension plans that cost more than defined-contribution plans [e.g., 401(k)] without benefiting education. Albany gave us expensive public construction mandates (e.g., “prevailing union wages” and the “Wicks Law”) that can double the cost of school capital improvement projects. Albany gave us these costly mandates that take tax dollars away from a child’s education. Let’s help our students this November by sending pink slips to Albany!
Robert Germino
