The Democrat & Chronicle, December 15, 2008, discussed a potential halt to increases in NYS Aid to Education and possibly even a decrease in the amount from last year (2008/09 school year).
The following chart was included in the article:
Note that Brighton received a 55% increase in NYS Aid from 2004-2008. (Of interest: Pittsford received a 72% increase….makes you wonder how the aid formula works?).
The issue that the ASI-Brighton reader must understand is: The higher the aid dollars, the lower your school property tax becomes WHILE the District can spend more money. Don’t roll your eyes…you need to understand why:
The “Budget” is an expenditure plan. It says the District plans to spend (say) $10,000. Where does the revenue come to meet that expense? It comes from a variety of sources…sales tax; rentals; Investment income;, NYS Aid and property taxes.
Let’s say that the above revenue items BEFORE property taxes totals $7,000 including $1,800 in NYS Aid. That means that the Property Tax Levy will be $3,000 ($10,000 - $7,000)…spread over all of us taxpayers…to pay for the $10,000 budget.
If in the above example, NYS Aid is increased to $2,000, then the Property Tax Levy is reduced to $2,800. As NYS Aid goes up, the Property Tax Levy goes down.
What’s really interesting is that the District can spend more money as the Aid increases while keeping the Property Tax Levy at a relatively acceptable increase. Here’s how:
Let’s say the District “knows” that NYS Aid will increase from $1,800 to $2,000. The District can then increase the Budget (remember…it is an expenditure plan) by $200 and still deliver the SAME Property Tax Levy as they had last year!
That’s why the Legislators (and unions) want to maintain increases in NYS Aid. You, the taxpayer, get a relatively constant, and acceptable, property tax increase while budgets can increase by the 10 year average of 6.5% in Monroe County. You don’t “see” NYS Aid when you pay NYS income taxes. You “see” your property tax bill.
Now….the NYS Aid increases appear to be coming to an end. Will you vote “Yes” for a major property tax increase to cover a decrease in NYS Aid?
