There was a recent story in Newsday entitled "Make new teachers state employees?" by James T. Madore.  When I first saw the headline, I was intrigued, mainly because my first child just started in the school system, and I wanted to see if this would have any impact on his education.  By the end of the first paragraph, there was a mention of "combating soaring property taxes," which was a sight for sore eyes.

It's not everyday that you're thrilled to read about a local politician, but this was just such an occasion.  Senator Dean Skelos is on the case, and Long Islanders should be thankful that he is.  As a REALTOR®, I am dealing with the rising property tax issue on Long Island almost daily.  The taxes here are some of the highest in the country, and we are starting to lose our younger population to more affordable areas of the country.

One of the main reasons that I got into real estate was to help people through the challenging process of buying and selling a home, something that I did many times on my own before ever joining the profession.  In fact, because I've moved so often, I know what an inconvenience it can be, which is why I just posted Your Long Island Move (Helpful Hints and Key Contact Numbers) {an easy-to-follow guide to getting set up in your new home}. 

The desire to help people is also why I created TheLIReloGuy.com.  As a residential real estate specialist, I see many people leaving Long Island for destinations south and west in search of a lower cost of living.  While I hate to see so many people leaving Long Island, I want to do what I can to help them find someone that can make their transition a smooth one.

One of the main reasons that people are leaving is because of the meteoric rise of our taxes, which seems to only be getting worse each year.  Under Senator Skelos' plan, some of the costs of education would be shifted from the local level to the state level, while still allowing local districts to maintain control over the schools.  Under this plan, property taxes on Long Island may be reduced by over $3 billion, which would average out to approximately a $3000 savings over time for each homeowner.

As we're all aware of, there have been some school budget scandals on Long Island in the recent past.  Another benefit of this program is that schools would have to disclose their savings and lower taxes proportionately.  Even though it will take around 10 years to have all teachers hired by the state, this is a program that will be a great benefit to Long Islanders. 

While housing prices are still an issue that contributes to Long Islanders relocating, we may be able to keep some of our own around by lowering the tax rates.  Of course, there is already opposition from the teacher's union, but I think that we all need to look at the big picture here.  If young people can no longer afford to live here, there will be less children on Long Island, which will mean less demand for teachers who are already competing for a limited amount of jobs.  In our school district it has gotten to the point where there were over 100 applicants for a permanent substitution position in the elementary school.  So while this plan may not be everyone's ideal scenario, Senator Skelos' plan may be the thing that saves a lot of jobs and our local economy.