NEWSDAY
/ ROD EYER . December
1, 2005
RAUCH
FOUNDATION SURVEY
"At
the Breaking Point? Taxation and Governance on Long Island
."
The
high cost of living . Local government ... Schools
(The
Rauch Foundation surveyed 1,215 Long Islanders about these
subjects and released their findings today)
Here are some of their results.
Thinking
of leaving
. Overall,
56 percent of Long Islanders said it was somewhat or very
likely they could leave their county in the next five
years.
HOW
LIKELY ARE YOU TO MOVE OUT OF THE COUNTY IN THE NEXT FIVE
YEARS?
Here
is a breakdown by age group.
Age Year Very
Likely Somewhat Likely Total
18-34
2004
40%
22%
62%
2005
46%
24%
70%
35-49
2004
22%
17%
39%
2005
24%
24%
48%
50-64 2004
30%
17%
47%
2005
37%
27%
64%
65+
2004
14%
11%
25%
2005
19%
16%
35%
Cost
of living here
In
your view, how serious a problem are high property taxes
in suffolk/nassau county?
Extremely serious 39% Very
serious 42% Somewhat
serious 14%
Not very serious 2%
In
your view, how serious is the problem of young people
moving away from Nassau
& Suffolk County because of the high cost of living?
Extremely serious 38%
Very serious 38%
Somewhat
serious 17% Not
very serious 4%
In
an average month, how difficult is it for you and your
family living with you to pay the rent or mortgage? Would
you say it is
Very difficult
15% Somewhat
difficult 39% Not
very difficult 21% Not
at all difficult 21%
How
concerned are you that the high cost of housing will force
members of your family to move out of nassau/suffolk county?
Very
concerned 55%
Somewhat concerned
26% Not
very concerned 9%
Not
at all concerned 8%
Would
you rate your current property taxes as much too high,
somewhat too high, about right, somewhat too low, or much
too low?
Much
too high 46%
Somewhat too high
39% About
right 15%
Do
you think local property taxes should remain at the same
level as last year, even if it means cutting back on local
services, or would you prefer to see an increase in property
taxes to keep local services at their current level? Do
you think local property taxes should remain at the same
level as last year, even if it means cutting back on local
services, or would you prefer to see an increase in property
taxes to keep local services at their current level?
Taxes
should remain the same 76
% Taxes should increase
to fund local services 16% Don't
know 6%
How's
it going?
Generally
speaking, do you think things in nassau/suffolk county
today are headed in the right direction or in the wrong
direction?
Right
direction 53% Wrong
direction 38% Don't
know 8%
How
much of the time do you think you can trust Town government
to do what is right?
Most
of the time 20% Some
of the time 55% Almost
never 18% Don't
know 4% All of
the time 2%
How
schools rate?
TURNING
NOW TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS, HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE QUALITY
OF:
Teachers
in your local school district?
Excellent
21% Good 45%
Fair 16% Don't
know 13% Poor
4%
School
administration in your local school district?
Excellent
12% Good 34%
Fair 28% Don't
know 13% Poor
13%
How
would you rate the education received by students in your
local school district?
Excellent
20% Good 44%
Fair 19% Poor
7% Don't
know 10%
How
much of the time do you think you can trust school board
members in your local school district to do what Is right?
All
of the time 5% Most
of the time 29% Some of the time 47%
Almost never 12% Don't
know 7%
As
far as you know, which one of the following is the primary
reason for the increase in school budgets?
Rising
teacher salaries 21% Rising
salaries of school administrators 26%
Rising
costs of teachers' retirement and health benefits 20%
Rising costs of utilities, building maintenance
& construction 22% Don't
know 11%
Changing
the system
The
amount of money spent on public schools varies greatly
across school
districts
Because
some communities are wealthier than others and have more
tax dollars to spend on education . It has been proposed
that some revenues from wealthier school districts be
shifted to poorer districts in order to provide those
places with more resources. That way roughly the same
amount per student would be spent across school districts.
To what extent do you favor or oppose this?
Strongly
favor 23% Somewhat
favor 32% Somewhat
oppose 22%
Strongly oppose 20%
One
way to spend roughly the same amount on each student in
a county would be to fund public schools through an income
tax, which would replace a portion of the property tax.
This would mean that the property tax would be cut by
about two-thirds. And income tax would increase by up
to a maximum of 9 percent for the wealthiest households.
Overall, do you think that this is a good idea or a bad
idea?
Good
idea 55% Bad
idea 34%
Don't know 9%
Some
school districts have a greater amount of money than others
to spend on students because they contain more commercial
property, which is taxed at a higher rate than residences.
To what extent do you favor or oppose pooling commercial
property taxes, so that they are distributed evenly across
all school districts in your county?
Favor
strongly 36% Favor
somewhat 40%
Oppose somewhat
14%
Oppose strongly 6%
Economists
have calculated that school property taxes could be reduced
by a substantial amount if long island's 125 school districts
were consolidated into larger ones. How strongly do you
favor or oppose a consolidation of current school districts?
Favor
strongly 17% Favor
somewhat 29%
Oppose somewhat 24%
Oppose strongly 24%
