MEET THE BAUMANN SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS
SCHOOLS
The Bedford Central School District
031501Report: Construction Doesn't Affect School Taxes HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA.....
According to Bill Hirschen, a spokesman for the state education department, it costs anywhere from $9,002 to $12,443 a year to educate a child in a Westchester public school; that figure is from the 1997-98 school year, which he said is the most recent figure available.
Assessing the Districts
My study does not factor in the differing tax bills of towns and villages located in a school district, according to Mr. Betz. For example assessed values in Mount Kisco are lower than those in Bedford, which means that the total tax base in Mount Kisco is lower than Bedford; residents in Mount Kisco and Bedford attend Bedford Central. In Bedford Central, a $300,000 home with five children doesn't pay enough school tax to even educate the children in the household, said Mr. Betz.
Because some towns include more than one school district, Mr. Spitznas combined the towns when assessing the tax burden. For example, he said the Lakeland Central School District is nearly evenly divided between two towns. Ms. Cooper, though, said the Lakeland district is divided between six towns. The lumping of school districts left questions of the study's accuracy, she said.
Mr. Betz also said that aspect was confusing. He said he couldn't decipher whether Mr. Spitznas combined the Bedford Central and Katonah/Lewisboro school districts or looked at them individually. (Some Bedford residents attend Katonah/Lewisboro.)
Commercial Base
The study also found that Northern Westchester has experienced a significant drop-off in its commercial base. Somers, for example, saw a 41.5 percent decline in its non-residential gross assessed value from 1991 to 1999. North Salem saw a 5 percent decline. "the decline was most likely due to tax certioraris," said Mr. Spitznas.
Westchester is a no-growth county," said George Frank, executive vice president of the Building and Realty Institute of Westchester and the study's sponsor. "Development is really miniscule."
The purpose of the study, he said, was to determine if spiraling construction costs in Westchester could offset the costs of educating the children coming out of those homes. But after the results came back that development might actually lower property taxes, Mr. Frank said, he was stunned. "I do believe the results. They're very clear. (They)speak for themselves-"
A second phase of the study may also be pursued, he said, which would look at all the housing, developments in the past five years in Westchester and their effects on school taxes.
Mr. Frank said that even if he can convince municipalities that growth won't affect property taxes, there are many other hurdles. Congestion, noise, traffic and environmental concerns are other factors that slow growth in Northern Westchester. "It's very difficult to get anything built. It's nearly impossible. It's a very expensive process and the houses don't get built."