The Suozzi Plan

This past Tuesday, County Executive Tom Suozzi gave his sixth state of the county address. While his speech highlighted numerous fiscal accomplishments, his failure to address property tax relief was nothing short of disappointing. Even though a recent U.S. Census report found that Nassau County residents pay the second highest property taxes in the nation, his five year plan actually calls for a 3.9% property tax increase in the next fiscal year and consideration of a residential energy tax. How can any office holder look to raise taxes while claiming the mantle of a reformer?

Credible reform has three elements; reducing the size of government (streamlining or consolidation including spending reductions), increasing or finding additional sources of revenue (increasing the tax base), and property tax reduction. While his “2020 Vision” plan cites the first two elements, his plan does not include any significant spending reductions or tax relief. Even though there is a tax crisis, he claims that his plan will address property taxes by the year 2020 when property taxes will “no longer [be] a number one issue” in Nassau County. Why should Nassau residents wait another thirteen years for tax relief?

The County Executive indicated in his speech that special districts are the root cause of excessive taxation on Long Island and this is the issue he will focus on. While the proliferation of special districts cannot be ignored due to their duplicative layers of administration and other cost factors, excessive spending by all levels of government is the very basis for the level of taxation. Medicaid spending cannot be ignored. What about school districts? As to his belief that there is a lack of accountability on the part of special districts due to the scheduling of budget votes and elections on varying dates, we agree (Election Reform for Accountability).

Some of his other proposals such as building more affordable housing and addressing global warning under his “Healthy Nassau” plan are misguided. What is his definition of “affordable housing”? Any housing that is built and sold below the market price with lower property taxes is ultimately subsidized by taxpayers. As to global warming, the March 12^thNY Times article disputed many of the claims made by Al Gore.

The County Executive wants to address factors outside of his control which have led to the current tax crisis. This seems reasonable. The Governor’s budget plan calls for a reduction in state aid for Nassau County school districts. As this will cause an increase in property taxes, why is the County Executive silent? Consistency is important.

While any plan to resolve the tax crisis must be comprehensive, real reform must include tax relief not tax increases.