Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

why are taxes so high on LI?

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Well - I was told (so I am not sure how true this is!) that in nassau taxes are so high because of the structure of the government. In Nassau - unlike other parts of the state and country you have to pay taxes to the state, the county and to your town as well. I think in most other places you dont pay a tax to your town or village AND the county. I think that suffolk is the same way.

I would also imagine they are higher because a lot of money is put into the school system here on LI - which is also why we have some of the best school districts in the country.

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

I think part of the reason is because there are so many little school districts.

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Nassau County.gov

There are five reasons that taxes are so high here on Long Island. Each requires a strategy to address it.

The first cause for high Long Island taxes is the sordid legacy of mismanagement. Most of my time as County Executive has focused on cleaning up the now too familiar mess we inherited in Mineola. We have succeeded, but what about the school districts now under State audit? More than $11 million of the taxpayers' money is missing in the Roslyn School District alone. The William Floyd School District in Suffolk. The Town of Brookhaven scandals. And there is more to come. No wonder 82% of Long Islanders, according to the Long Island Index, have little trust in government.

Here in Nassau a series of management tools have all been designed around our core principal "reduce bureaucracy and increase accountability." Employee evaluations designed to reward performance not political connections; the relentless pursuit of excellence by measuring everything from crime statistics to Medicaid application backlogs has provided objective data to hold managers accountable to measured goals; and the creation of a new Deputy County Executive for Compliance to ensure the implementation of internal controls and processes and procedures to ensure that our $2.4 billion organization is run like a $2.4 billion organization.

Mismanagement is the most aggravating and the most readily corrected problem we face. Each of these management techniques that have helped us clean up the mess in Mineola can serve as a model for other government organizations.

The second cause of our high taxes are the expenses pushed down on us from the State of New York. It turns out that according to the Citizen's Budget Commission that local taxes in New York State are 72% above the national average - the highest local taxes in the nation. The next highest State is 20% above the national average. You may now be familiar with my Fix Albany Campaign and my efforts as the President of the New York State County Executive's Association. I have been traveling around the State with my fellow County executives both Democrats and Republicans calling on the Governor, State Senate and Assembly to cap the local share of Medicaid costs. We will be holding a rally on March 21st at the Cradle of Aviation to demand a stop in the out of control spending the State is forcing our counties to pay for. In Oneida County they just raised their sales tax to 9 and 3/4%. In Erie County they just laid off 2000 employees and are shutting down basic County services. The average tax increase in Counties throughout the State over the past two years has been 20% and 5 counties have almost reached their constitutional taxing limit. Albany is responsible for many of the property taxes you pay and I am asking you to join with me in holding them accountable.

The third cause for high property taxes on Long Island is that we have a great deal of government. Nassau is an intricate spider web of costly, complicated, conflicting, often competing governments, including three towns, two cities, 64 villages, 68 unincorporated areas, 58 school districts, 71 fire districts, 24 garbage districts, 36 water districts, 26 park districts, 20 parking districts even multiple sewer, lighting, drainage and sidewalk districts - literally hundreds of taxing jurisdictions. All this government costs money. We have begun to consolidate some of the management of roads and parks with local towns and villages, but much more needs to be done. I want to commend County Assessor Harvey Levinson for the work he has begun, to expose some of the "invisible governments" that are imposing taxes with little or no oversight. For example in Baldwin, the tax in one garbage district is twice as large as the taxes in the district across the street. I have asked Harvey to study these districts in detail and to report back to me over the next six months as to how we can make some sense of this mess.

Fourth, we here on Long island are literally paying $3 billion more in State and $3 billion more in Federal income taxes than we get back in Albany and Washington aid. And while we subsidize the rest of the state and nation with our income tax dollars, we are forced to pay high property taxes for the mandated expenses that Albany and Washington push down on our shoulders. Comptroller Howard Weitzman has begun to investigate these inequities. He notes that for years we assumed our extremely high school taxes reflected primarily our desire to pass school budgets to maintain our quality schools. Comptroller Weitzman recently conducted a study, however, that found that our residents receive less State aid than comparable communities with similar incomes and school spending. He will continue his study and propose to me by the end of this year ideas as to how we can address this unfair situation. In the meanwhile we will continue to lobby our State and Federal officials to help us get our fair share of state and federal dollars.

The fifth reason for high taxes in Nassau -- a central reason too often overlooked -- is that we have stopped growing. America's first suburb has reached middle-age. We now have little open space left to grow and we want to preserve what we have left. Meanwhile, traffic worsens and under current zoning laws we can't redevelop those places that could sustain more density.

With no new construction or new business, with rising expenses and a flat tax base, local government will be forced to raise property taxes even further or dramatically cut existing services.


Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi honors the recipient of the third annual Nassau County Theodore Roosevelt Award for Achievement, Monsignor Thomas J. Hartman, for his work raising awareness and millions of dollars for research to find a cure for Parkinson ’s disease


To continue on that course would be a catastrophe for Nassau. It would mean not simply no new business, but a loss of business and a shrinking tax base to pay higher and higher taxes. It would mean the destruction of the suburban dream that began here in Levittown for the Wilson family and so many others.

Nothing about the "wonderful schools"...it's plain old gov't.

Message edited 8/9/2006 3:38:32 PM.

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

they left off one reason- the corruption in Nassua County with mansions in Locust Valley sometimes having cheaper taxes then hempstead

Newsday did a story on in a few years back

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

I'd like to know the same about NJ. We pay 15k a year, our town hasn't been assessed in 15 years and is getting ready to do a reassement. I KNOW our taxes are going to go up.

I'd also like to know what it is we get for our tax $$:

1. We pay for garbage pick up twice a week, $31 per month

2. Recycling gets picked up in our town once a month and we are limited in what we can put out. Items such as moving boxes have to be brought by us to the recycling center and of course only during business hours 9-4 M-F when DH and I are both at work. So we have tons of folded up boxes in our garage. If anyone in NJ is moving, you can GLADLY have our boxes

Just a couple of my grievences.

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Oh and because our schools and gov't have too many corrupt officials -- look at Brookhaven, Wm. Floyd and Roslyn!! And nobody notices these missing MILLIONS???

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Posted by sasha

Posted by Beth1210

they left off one reason- the corruption in Nassua County with mansions in Locust Valley sometimes having cheaper taxes then hempstead

Newsday did a story on in a few years back

Nope sweetie, it's there, "mismanagement" is the NUMBER ONE reason.

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Posted by MrsRbk

I'd like to know the same about NJ. We pay 15k a year, our town hasn't been assessed in 15 years and is getting ready to do a reassement. I KNOW our taxes are going to go up.

I'd also like to know what it is we get for our tax $$:

1. We pay for garbage pick up twice a week, $31 per month

2. Recycling gets picked up in our town once a month and we are limited in what we can put out. Items such as moving boxes have to be brought by us to the recycling center and of course only during business hours 9-4 M-F when DH and I are both at work. So we have tons of folded up boxes in our garage. If anyone in NJ is moving, you can GLADLY have our boxes

Just a couple of my grievences.

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Posted by sasha

Posted by MrsRbk

I'd like to know the same about NJ. We pay 15k a year, our town hasn't been assessed in 15 years and is getting ready to do a reassement. I KNOW our taxes are going to go up.

I'd also like to know what it is we get for our tax $$:

1. We pay for garbage pick up twice a week, $31 per month

2. Recycling gets picked up in our town once a month and we are limited in what we can put out. Items such as moving boxes have to be brought by us to the recycling center and of course only during business hours 9-4 M-F when DH and I are both at work. So we have tons of folded up boxes in our garage. If anyone in NJ is moving, you can GLADLY have our boxes

Just a couple of my grievences.

Your answers are HERE and it ain't getting better! This one isn't promising...
The first link tells you the why very clearly, the second tells you that they know it's a problem, but it isn't getting better any time soon!

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Posted by MrsRbk

Posted by sasha

Posted by MrsRbk

I'd like to know the same about NJ. We pay 15k a year, our town hasn't been assessed in 15 years and is getting ready to do a reassement. I KNOW our taxes are going to go up.

I'd also like to know what it is we get for our tax $$:

1. We pay for garbage pick up twice a week, $31 per month

2. Recycling gets picked up in our town once a month and we are limited in what we can put out. Items such as moving boxes have to be brought by us to the recycling center and of course only during business hours 9-4 M-F when DH and I are both at work. So we have tons of folded up boxes in our garage. If anyone in NJ is moving, you can GLADLY have our boxes

Just a couple of my grievences.

Your answers are HERE and it ain't getting better! This one isn't promising...
The first link tells you the why very clearly, the second tells you that they know it's a problem, but it isn't getting better any time soon!

That first article talks about the County I live in, and Maplewood is my neighboring town.

Seriously, where's the puke icon?

Image Attachment(s):

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Posted by MrsRbk


That first article talks about the County I live in, and Maplewood is my neighboring town.

Seriously, where's the puke icon?

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Posted by lorich

Posted by SweetestOfPeas

you can borrow mine

Stop puking missy!

Re: Can someone answer a Q about LI property taxes for me?

Posted by SweetestOfPeas

Posted by MrsRbk

Posted by sasha

Posted by MrsRbk

I'd like to know the same about NJ. We pay 15k a year, our town hasn't been assessed in 15 years and is getting ready to do a reassement. I KNOW our taxes are going to go up.

I'd also like to know what it is we get for our tax $$:

1. We pay for garbage pick up twice a week, $31 per month

2. Recycling gets picked up in our town once a month and we are limited in what we can put out. Items such as moving boxes have to be brought by us to the recycling center and of course only during business hours 9-4 M-F when DH and I are both at work. So we have tons of folded up boxes in our garage. If anyone in NJ is moving, you can GLADLY have our boxes

Just a couple of my grievences.

Your answers are HERE and it ain't getting better! This one isn't promising...
The first link tells you the why very clearly, the second tells you that they know it's a problem, but it isn't getting better any time soon!

That first article talks about the County I live in, and Maplewood is my neighboring town.

Seriously, where's the puke icon?

you can borrow mine