Lindley Town Board Sends Strong Message to Albany

By action of the Town of Lindley Town Board, adopted at its meeting on March 8, 2005, it was

RESOLVED that the following recommendations be submitted to New York State Senators George H. Winner Jr. and Joseph Bruno, New York Senate Assembly Representatives, James G. Bacalles and Sheldon Silver, and Governor George Pataki, with a letter on the behalf of the Citizens of The Town Of Lindley urging their immediate attention.

• WHEREAS the residents of the Town of Lindley have collectively considered the local issues of the greatest concern to them and identified high property taxes as one of the highest priority among them; and
• WHEREAS funding for local governmental services, including public education, is provided primarily through a tax on the estimated value of property; and
• WHEREAS the welfare of the Town of Lindley homeowners is jeopardized by the rapid increase in the costs of public education and the inability of many homeowners to pay these increases costs; and
• WHEREAS the increasing burden of public education on taxpayers also impacts on the ability to raise other taxes to provide services and to fund Town-specifics and local initiatives important to the well being of the community.
• THEREFORE the Town Board of the Town of Lindley appeals to New York State Public officials to implement new measures for financing public education, including the following suggested actions:

1. Decrease the revenue raised from tax sources based on the value of dwellings.
2. Refrain from imposing state mandated requirements upon school systems without corresponding state funding.
3. Adjust the formulas on revenue earmarked as aid to education from state lottery and other future gaming activities so tha the annual percentage is substantially increased from current levels.
4. Maintain the enhanced STAR exemption for the town's citizens, but also increase the STAR exemption for the Senior Citizens.
5. All up state taxes should stay upstate.

Resolved and Executed at Lindley, New York, this 8th day of March 2005.