A Day Late and $205,289,999 Dollars Short
Monday was MLK Jr. Day in remembrance of a man who fought ceaselessly and with grace against the idea that some people were “more equal” than others.
So this post is a day late. And as a Rockland County taxpayer, you just helped pay the $2,000,000 per day cost of County government.
I harped on the County last week because County government is vital in concept but has proven itself unable to manage its checkbook.
But one of the biggest reasons why government doesn’t get good information is because we, the People, aren’t always informed enough to shout the right information. Good information is necessary for good decisions.
As an elected, many people came to me complaining about a sewer smell that came from a County-run facility. Others came to me yelling about their taxbill, two-thirds of which is due to their school district, although the Receiver of Taxes was, at the time, receiving and processing the school taxes too, blurring the line between the Town and Schools (which are completely and legally separate, through State edict).
In government as in life, follow the money, so that you, as a taxpayer, can appropriately be a steward over the destiny of your dollars.
I use Orangetown as the example because I’m from there but these monetary relationships are generally applicable to all five of the Rockland towns (Clarkstown, Haverstraw, Orangetown, Ramapo, and Stony Point).
County government is huge, at three-quarters of a BILLION dollars passing through the structure. But since it’s divided across all 300,000 residents, your tax bill is mostly consumed by two other areas: schools and your town government, in that order.
In Orangetown, it costs over $20,000 to educate a child, which is about what a year at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill costs. I did not include Nyack and Nanuet School Districts in my charts because they are not wholly contained within Orangetown, meaning that the bill is split across communities. Those districts are about the same per student.
My parents live in Tappan so they pay to the Town ($64,433,817.00) and South Orangetown School District ($79,570,592.00).
The important note is not whether you’re getting the bang for your buck — everyone has an opinion plus one — but that when members of the public are holding people accountable for their tax dollars, it’s absolutely vital that we hold the right people accountable.
Town officials are accountable to just a third of your tax bill. I know, because I was one of them.
On Thursday, I’ll discuss participation rates in town, school, fire, and library elections (how many of you knew you could vote in all of these elections?).
here goes:
@Robert: that’s a great analogy. remind me next week (maturo@me.com) and I’ll try to do a piece on Tuesday or Thursday, since Orangetown (and other towns) are now accepting applications for various boards, since it’s new-administration-reorganization time. In short: zoning boards are absolutely critical but the process is arcane and needs to be made more dynamic without sacrificing core community principles (and it can).
@Lyle: as a suburban-born 27-year-old, i felt that this was the right time — at the end of an enjoyable and mostly successful term — to explore my dream of success in the Big Apple.
@Carol: thank you
i appreciate the encouragement on this budding publication. do us a favor: share the link! RocklandLifestyle.com
@Tarik: more or less. (usually more…ha!)
@Linda: perfect transition. i try to use data to get us to the next question, which is Where does it go and, equally importantly, Who is in charge? That’s the only way to get to How can I help?
@Jim: i feel for you. If you really believe that and can afford it, I’d take ‘em out. A friend teaches at a Montessori school and I think it’s an innovative way to teach. The obsolescence and general inadequacy of the average public school is endemic…not restricted to the suburbs.
It’s also not because educators and administrators aren’t trying: A rural Michigan school went from $35K to $200K in one year on technology (http://www.villagelife.org/news/archives/CS_publicschools/edutechease.html)
The problem as I see it is that current educators *don’t* see it. Too many (not all, of course), are thinking from a top-down paradigm. Father/teacher knows best, when all signs in the past twenty years have pointed to collaborative change, not hierarchical ones.
You know those little plastic plugs for Starbucks coffee cups, so they don’t spill in the car? That was a customer’s suggestion. Howard Schultz (their CEO) did what good leaders do: listen and then execute. Execution is what requires the million-dollar salary (given a billion-dollar organization).
Back to schools: these are million-dollar organizations that demand million-dollar execution, but the trials of our times are proving that most educators and administrators are not capable of producing talented (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/01/20/danger-america-is-losing-its-edge-in-innovation/) and socially-adjusted individuals (Google: bullying).
What do you do? 1) Put your kids in private schools that are proving themselves to be innovative and competitive. 2) Barring that, write letters to teachers and administrators with words of displeasure and words of encouragement…send them new ideas, links to other innovative schools, and get involved. 3) Vote in school elections, which typically happen in May, not November.
I won’t mention the name, but my son’s school in the area is so outdated, almost half as old-world as their method of teaching our youth.
Where does the money really go?
A bottomless pit.
2 million dollars a day?!!
I am loving your words Michael. I’m so glad there’s a source publishing the truth! Keep your column coming. I agree, get back into office!
Mr. Maturo why retire now? You have such clear perspective, they need you!
MInd blowing, I had no idea of these local numbers. Astonishing.
I am following your disertations on the relationships between funds, government and the people. It is like having a salad, with chocolate pudding dressing and boiling it, before eating.
I wonder what your thoughts are on zoning boards?