ALBANY,
By Alex Rankin
5T
The predicted battle lines in
the State Capitol Building over
Governor Rockefeller's $ 5.5
billion budget and the $ 500
million tax hike he wants to
balance it are beginning to shape
up.
Down on the second floor the
governor is waiting in his office,
listening to the little shades of
difference in the reactions to
his tax program, a variety of
10 different tax hikes.
One key is in the variety and
the amount he says they will
raise.
The biggest is the 20 percent
surcharge on the personal income,
$ 270 million. Then comes
the corporation franchise tax,
$ 108 million; followed by the
corporation and utilities tax
hike, $ 35 million; the one- cent
hike in the gasoline tax,
$ 21 million, the bank tax, $ 19
million; the 50- cent a gallon
hike in the whiskey tax, $ 15
million; the unincorporated business
tax, $ 15 million; the hike
in the pari- mutuel betting tax,
$ 6 million, and the hike in the
insurance premium tax, another
$ 6 million.
The other key is the fact that
all state Senators and Assemblymen
are up for reelection this
November.
This is the first time in many
years that a governor has asked
the Legislature to hike so many
different taxes at the same time.
Why, for example, couldn't the
governor tack on another penny,
to, say, the bank tax hike and
eliminate the gasoline tax altogether?
The obvious answer is that all
these little taxes are throwaways.
Any legislator can find a way to
cut $ 21 million out of a $ 5.5
billion budget. It's like taking
a nickel out of the money you
give your wife every week.
If the $ 21 million is gone, the
gasoline tax hike won't be needed
And the legislators will get the
political credit for it.
The other part of the battle
is up on the third floor in the
Senate and Assembly chambers.
That battle is between rural
upstate legislators and suburban
downstate legislators. It concerns
taxes and school aid.
It is perhaps dangerous to
generalize on the statements of
one or two legislators, but a trend
can be seen.
First the statement of a rural
upstate legislator, Assemblyman
Donald L. Taylor of Watertown:
" In my district ( Jefferson and
Lewis Counties) all the people
I have talked to are bitterly opposed
to a tax hike, without
exception."
Now the joint statement of
four Assemblymen from Nassau
County. There is no mention
in it anywhere of state taxes.
" The governor has given no
evidence of any concern for the
overwhelming property tax
burden borne by home owners....
die proposed increase in aid to
education is paltry....
In Nassau and other suburban
counties the real estate tax to
support schools is extremely
high. Legislators from this area
want the state aid formula raised
from the present $ 660 per pupil
to $ 800 per pupil to ease some
of that local real estate burden.
Rockefeller asked for $ 726
per pupil.
The suburban legislators are
' screaming mat it isn't enough.
Rural upstate legislators do
not feel this pressure in dieir
areas. Their constituents just
plain don't want any tax hike
period.
Suburban legislators argue that
a state hike will ease the local
burden.
Rural legislators, such as Sen.
H. Douglas Barclay of Pulaski
argue mat a large number of
his constituents are elderly
people with fixed incomes...
unable to work harder to offset
a tax hike in what they get from
pensions and social security to
pay the electricity bill and for
food.
Eglevsky Ballet, Pequa
Symphony Ready For
Joint Performance
The Andre Eglevsky Ballet
Company and the Massapequa
Symphony Orchestra will offer
a joint performance on Saturday,
February 10 at 8: 30 p. m.
at the Massapequa High School.
The opening presentation,
" Pas de Quatre", was originally
performed for Queen Victoria
in 1845 to be followed by
Petipa's « ' Le Corsair Pas De
Deux" starring Marina Eglevsky.
Black Swan from the third
act of Swan Lake will make up
the second part of the performance
featuring Pat Neary,
a soloist with the New York City
Ballet.
The Massapequa High School
Box office will be open on
Saturdays, January 27, February
3 and 10 from 10 am. to
1 p. m. where tickets may be
purchased. They are priced
at $ 4 for adults and $ 2 for students.
Ticket information may
also be obtained by calling
PY 8- 3092.
Board Makes Move
To Meet With Officials
The Farmingdale Board of Education
would like to meet witii
New York State government officials
and members of the Metropolitan
Commuter Transportation
Authority to protect the
interests of School District 22,
in relation to the State's proposed
acquisition of Republic airfield,
according to a letter sent
mis week by Mrs. Lucile Gould-ing,
Board President.
The Board seeks effective
steps to be taken by the state
and by all appropriate agencies
to safeguard the safety of the
district's schools and residents
and to protect the district's property
taxpayers against loss of
tax revenue.
The letter to the officials:
" With regard to safety we
particularly emphasize the proximity
of our East Memorial Elementary
School and Mill Lane
Junior High School to the Republic
field. While we have been
reassured on this point by responsible
audiority in the past,
we want to be doubly certain
of adequate safety provisions to
deal with any contemplated plans
for future utilization of the Republic
Airfield."
From the standpoint of property
tax income to our hard-pressed
school district, which
has grown from 2000 pupils in
1950 to 12,900 today, we now
have a $ 23.58 per thousand full
value tax rate for schools only.
Our property valuation per pupil
is some 30% less than the state
average ($ 22,825 per pupil compared
with the state average of
$ 31,400 per pupil), resulting in
an ability ranking of 46th out of
56 Nassau school districts and
40th out of 61 Suffolk districts).
" The Fairchild - Hiller Republic
Aviation complex has a
total assessed valuation of $ 4,-
412,380. The airport property
itself is assessed at $ 1, 171,010,
with an annual school tax of
$ 145,311 at the current rate of
$ 12,409 per $ 100 of assessed
valuation. Based on an equalization
ratio of 19 percent die
full value of the airport property
is $ 6,163,210 or about two percent
of our district's total full
valuation of $ 307,125,133. If the
airport property were removed
Broadlawn Manor Nursing Home
; ospitul Affiliated
from the tax rolls
$ 145,311 would add
our assessed value
rate of $ 7,859 per
sessed valuation in
Bay section of our
25 cents to our $ 12
the Babylon section
t r i c t ."
the loss of
16 cents to
school tax
$ 100 of as-the
Oyster
district and
.409 rate in
of our dis-
6(
Some say:
I don't
need God W
Maybe you don't... if you
think of God as merely
some distant person, or
unknowable.
But, if you were to know
God as Mind, the source
of all ideas and intelligence,
or as Life, the
source of strength and
health .. . wouldn't it
make sense to know
Him better?
You can .. .
Practical ways of knowing
God are discussed at the
Christian Science Sunday
School. Visit a class this
Sunday at
9- 30 AM, 11? 15 Sunday Morning
First Church of Christ,
Scientist, Massapequa
Merrick Rd. & Biltmore Blvd.
Massapequa
Ed Speno's
Capitol Letter
A long session is forecast
by most observers with the legislature
facing many problems
and new programs.
During this past week, the
Joint Legislative Committee on
Motor Vehicles, Traffic and
Highway Safety, which 1 chair,
introduced 27 bills for 1968 and
I would ask for your views on
these, some of which we will
briefly outline below.
• The establishment of an Accident
Investigation Team including
a medical doctor, automotive
mechanic, two engineers,
a lawyer and a psychologist to
determine the basic cause of
about 100 serious accidents a year.
This would be in the nature of
a research project and a means
of formulating better police accident
reporting procedures.
The JLC * s Road Ahead or Highway
Planning Review Board legislation
would prohibit new road
construction projects unless certain
criteria are met and are
directed to the preservation of
. scenic values, historic sites and
natural resources and the use
of alternate means of transportation
instead of highways. The
bill is designed to prevent a
state with wall- to- wall concrete
across its borders.
An additional bill requires the
establishment of two state- op-
We Invite Your Inspection
400 Broadway
AJV. ityvilie 4- 0222
/ Any Ti
Tracy H Logon
business Manager
the
B •
1LL r • •
speaks to you
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
RADIO SERIES
WNBC - 660 kc - 8: 15 AM
WTHE - 1520kc- 8: 30 AV.
WBAB - 1440kc- 8: 45 AM
Al TO I.' MSI RAMI:
Youngsters, Oldsters
Monthly payments, discounts
dividends, iuto loans
Telephone Service
MURRAY TUCK U*
388 Fulton St., Farmingdale
249-' 490
orated inspection stations as an
experiment because of the current
frequency of slipshod inspections
and some service stations
demand that unnecessary
repairs be made.
Insurance is the subject of a
bill to protect the motoring public
by reducing the number of
uninsured motorists who have
not paid premiums and ignored
notice of temporary suspension
with two bills prohibiting cancellation
until the registration
has been confiscated by the authorities.
If the auto owner has
failed to surrender registration
voluntarily, he would pay a $ 15
penalty on confiscation which,
in turn, would reimburse the
community for the cost of confiscation.
Additional seat belt legislation
requires the belts for 1962, 1963
and 1964 model cars to fit the
anchorage units for the belts
already in those cars as the r e sult
of the committee sponsored
law of 1961.
We've just dealt with some of
the highlights of the JLC bills
introduced this week.
Again, I welcome your comments
and will discuss additional
legislation affecting you and me
next week on these pages.
See you next week.
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Michael N. Petito( left) points to
town map as George O'Haire ( center) of Hicksville and Marvin
Wagner ( right) of Old Bethpage, members of the Town Traffic
Safety Board, look on. O'Haire and Wagner, tlie Supervisor's appointees
to die nine- member board, will assist in improving traffic
flow and provides uniformity of traffic signals in Township.
Lofts has her
heart's desire
For Valentine's Day, Loft's lias the biggest selection of hearts
in town. Give her this Ace of Hearts, a full pound assortment
of luscious miniature chocolates. Just * 3 » X 5
MOBY DRUGS
216 MAIN ST., FARMINGDALE
ORDER TODAY - DELIVERED FREE
ON VALENTINES DAY
CH 9 - 0 2 68
Farmingdale OBSERVER Thursday, February I, 1968 Page 5
