Sunday, December 13, 2009

Guy Kempe's Letter to the Editor 11/12/09: State building aid

Last week's New Paltz Times contained a letter which I believe made an erroneous assumption about state financing for the proposed New Paltz Middle School renovation. This misconception must be addressed so the voters here can have a true understanding of the role state aid plays in reducing the local tax impact of the project.

The notion that state aid doesn't really save us money because we all pay for it in taxes is correct, but only half the story. School building aid money is collected from New Paltz taxpayers by New York State in the form of a tiny fraction of our annual income taxes. The revenues raised here will be spent by the state regardless of whether or not they spend it on the New Paltz School District. If we pass on the opportunities to bring aid back to New Paltz, the outcome is that we local taxpayers fund projects for communities elsewhere. Getting state aid for our school project is all about bringing back to our community a value for state taxes we pay. In fact, it's possibly the only way we can ever see any of that money returned for the benefit of our own community.

Any reimbursement we receive from Albany towards renovation costs fully reduces the local tax impact by that amount. Figures discussed in public at recent school board meetings by several professional school builders and the Assistant Superintendent for Business estimate that amount at $20 million. That's 20 million less we have to go into debt to get the renovation we need. As a property taxpayer, I appreciate the due diligence of the board in choosing a design that maximizes our eligibility for state building aid.

Guy Thomas Kempe
New Paltz

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