easiest way to reduce property taxes

[rutgersdave]

This just in from Raymond Lesniak:

pending by school boards, even if unauthorized by the NJ Department of Education, often winds up on the local property tax rolls.

Take the Elizabeth Board of Education for example. It had truant officers for pre-school four year olds where attendance is not mandatory. When the NJ Department of Education refused to authorize the positions and pay the state aid portion of it, the Elizabeth BOE funded it exclusively from local property taxpayers. The school board also bought political ads on cable tv against Elizabeth's Mayor Bollwage. The state refused to pay state aid for this unauthorized expenditure, but again local property tax payers foot the bill.

Abuses like this, and there are many across the state, would not be permitted if my proposal for a State Comptroller of Education were adopted. Unauthorized positions would not be allowed to be funded by local property taxpayers nor would any expenditures not relevant to education.
Check out my website at www.raymondlesniak.com/waste for other examples of tax dollars that can be saved.

Most Board of Education are teachers, spouse of teachers, public workers, or involved in the education field. It's in their interest for more spending.

 

[C0bra Kai]

Lots of people saying merge things at the local level and you're saying eliminate the county level. Are you just referring to freeholders and the like? All the county services? What specifically are you looking to eliminate at that level?

Eliminate all of the counties and farm out their services to municipalities and the state that don't overlap local/state government. Regionalizing local services is also a good idea and has potential to be a big cost saver.

There's been lots of talk about it over the past few years. Do a quick google search and you will see.

 

[RUsSKii]

Lots of people saying merge things at the local level and you're saying eliminate the county level. Are you just referring to freeholders and the like? All the county services? What specifically are you looking to eliminate at that level?

Let's start with the Middlesex County Sheriffs, their ATVs/quasi-military vehicles, and borderline harassment of tailgaters in the name of underage drinking tickets..

 

[FanuSanu52]

Eliminate all of the counties and farm out their services to municipalities and the state that don't overlap local/state government. Regionalizing local services is also a good idea and has potential to be a big cost saver.

There's been lots of talk about it over the past few years. Do a quick google search and you will see.

There's been a lot of talk about it forever. I went to a property tax moratorium meeting at Princeton back in 2003 or so, and they were talking the same stuff. Looks like they acted quickly!

 

[nevets72]

Sorry to interject a little economic theory into the discussion. There is a concept known as externalities (or spillovers), Externalities can be either benefits or costs. Theory as applied to education says that both the individual receiving the education, who receives direct benefits, and the society as a whole, which receives external benefits, gain from education. For example, lets say a kid is too poor for his family to pay for education does not attend school, had he attended school it would have developed his intelligence and he would have discovered a cure for cancer, ED, baldness, or some other disease and so everyone would have benefited from his (or her, to be PC).
Also the thought that I paid for my kids education when I was in school thru taxes so I should not have to pay after they graduate may not really hold water (depending on # of kids). Let's assume that $10,000 is (and was - to adjust for inflation) a reasonable cost for education and to adjust for inflation my current school tax is $5,000 (really).. All three of my kids went to public school for 12 years (plus kindergarten - but I ignore that year). That means my kids education cost $360,000. At $5,000 a year (no interest on the debt), it will take 72 years in school taxes to cover the payment. Living here for 39 years, that means I only have 35 more years of taxes to pay off my kids education. (30 if you give me credit for taxes paid in other towns BK.
Regionalization is great -example of Green Brook, Dunellen (my town) and Middlesex given. Unfortunately, joining of GB and Dunellen was put to a vote in the 70's and voted down by the citizens of GB (who now send their high school students to Watchung Hills Regional). Dunellen, Middlesex, Bound Brook and SBB was proposed a few years later - Middlesex nixed the idea.

That would assume the only money paying your kids education was property tax which is not the case.

 

[PhilaPhans]

Eliminate all of the counties and farm out their services to municipalities and the state that don't overlap local/state government. Regionalizing local services is also a good idea and has potential to be a big cost saver.

There's been lots of talk about it over the past few years. Do a quick google search and you will see.

Again, you want to get rid of counties and then regionalize. I'm missing something here. We have lots of shared services down here in South Jersey. It makes sense.

 

[RU#1fan]

Solution = Eliminate or reduce the ridiculously high Pension plans of Municipial workers. The will reduce Property taxes.
Heck, my Employer along with many others eliminated their pension plans years ago.

ummm . Elite ?
Retired Cop down the street from this sleepy town makes $70m per year in pension.

 

[jtung230]

Rent

 

[eceres]

Again, you want to get rid of counties and then regionalize. I'm missing something here. We have lots of shared services down here in South Jersey. It makes sense.

Need to remove duplicate functions/services. We have extra tiers of government all over NJ from what I understand.

Regionalizing doesn't necessarily mean counties. Shared HS are popular in a lot of places in NJ but they are 3-4 towns who make a deal.

My water is regionalized, 1 town owns a water company that is used by 4 towns. There are lawsuits pending as the other towns are accusing the water company of diverting funds to the towns other expenses. So be careful how fair the deals are.

http://patch.com/new-jersey/ridgewood/ridgewood-water-lawsuit-trial-begins-april-5

 

[PhilaPhans]

My point is that just saying "eliminate county stuff" is just too broad. We have county 911 services, for example, which work great. I don't mind getting rid of wasteful stuff. I'm just describing counties as a pretty big example of regionalizing.

 

[PSU_Nut]

make people that have kids pay for their own kids education.. problem solved.. maybe that way more $ can be donated to RU by non alums who are fans that don't have kids?

As an society you can invest in schools or invest in prisons. What money saved will end up costing you double when you have a large group of uneducated young adults who have little or no employment. Drug use and crime will sky rocket.

There are many politicians who would love this. That way their rich cronies have a cheap source of labor. They would love to return this country back to a time where you had the ultra wealthy who made money off the backs of the uneducated. There was no middle class. None will promote what you say but they are more subtle. They pull money from public schools because they know their rich friends kids can still get a private education. They promote programs like vouchers so public money can be funneled to their private schools. Do you actually think if the kid can't play a sport some prep school is going to take little Johnny from the hood voucher. They will just raise tuition above the voucher. So if it was 10k before and they have voucher for 10k they will simply raise the tuition to 20k. There are many people who want to make money on the uneducated.

 

[miketd1]

Government gets in bed with Wall Street and pushes 401k plans and encourages the phasing out of traditional pensions in the private sector.

...yet diligently protects the traditional pensions of its own employees.

Cool deal, amirite? :rolleyes:

 

[R1776U]

You must have a line of people paying for your ass

thought you libs were supposed to be mature people who have intellectual prowess... guess i was wrong[pfftt]

 

[R1776U]

As an society you can invest in schools or invest in prisons. What money saved will end up costing you double when you have a large group of uneducated young adults who have little or no employment. Drug use and crime will sky rocket.

There are many politicians who would love this. That way their rich cronies have a cheap source of labor. They would love to return this country back to a time where you had the ultra wealthy who made money off the backs of the uneducated. There was no middle class. None will promote what you say but they are more subtle. They pull money from public schools because they know their rich friends kids can still get a private education. They promote programs like vouchers so public money can be funneled to their private schools. Do you actually think if the kid can't play a sport some prep school is going to take little Johnny from the hood voucher. They will just raise tuition above the voucher. So if it was 10k before and they have voucher for 10k they will simply raise the tuition to 20k. There are many people who want to make money on the uneducated.

did i say anything about vouchers? no... you pay for your little snot nosed moron.. now go back to the cultist cesspool board

 

[RUnTime]

Easy- Get rid of the free loader public employee pensions.