We already have a tax cap!

It seems you can’t turn on the TV, open a newspaper or your favorite internet news site without hearing or reading about tax caps on public schools and local government budgets.

The proposals for these tax caps vary from 2 percent to 4 percent with a great deal of intricate, complicated and confusing legislative language that most of us cannot even come close to understanding.

In my albeit humble opinion, the tax cap talk (as it pertains to school districts) is political propaganda, preying on citizens who are being led to believe that they have no control over how much money their school district spends.

This is completely false.

School districts already have a tax cap; it is called a budget vote. The third Tuesday of every May, school districts in New York State place the decision on how much they will spend in the hands of the residents of that district. In fact, school district budgets are the most democratic of any government spending State, local or national.

Do you get to vote on the State budget?

Do you get to vote on your City or County budget?

No.

The only budgets that are placed in the hands of the voters are those of our schools. And every resident over the age of 18 has the right and the responsibility to vote on their school’s budget.

Last year 94 percent of school district budgets in New York State were approved by voters. This fact illustrates widespread voter approval of the way schools are spending money.

The key term in that sentence is “voter approval.” It is important to note that voter turnout for budget votes is very low. Some opponents of schools might say that this is because holding school budget votes in May is a trick and that the votes should be held in November. To that I say, “Fine!” If we do our job and put out a responsible budget that balances the needs of our students with our community’s values and ability to pay, it makes no difference to me when the budget is voted upon. In fact I wish more people would get involved.

While I have resigned myself to the fact that we will have some type of tax cap in the coming years, I think it is important for our citizens to realize that they already have a say in how much or how little schools spend.