Letter to the Editor: Tax Breaks And Amityville Schools' Fiscal Woes

To the Editor:

I just read the findings on the funding for the Amityville School District. Nowhere does it put any blame on the Town of Babylon Industrial Development Agency.

There has been massive apartment development in Amityville and the IDA has granted huge tax abatements for decades to the developers. PILOT payments do not begin to cover the expenses of educating the new students that now live in the huge new apartment buildings. Aside from the loss of school taxes, the lack of tax payment impacts police, waste and sewer, plowing, and many other town services.

To make matters worse, the deficit in taxes forces the schools to raise class sizes, cut programs, and put an additional tax burden on the existing homeowners. This is not a wealthy district and people can't sustain the larger school tax payments.

You could make a big difference by influencing the Town of Babylon IDA to stop granting tax abatements to wealthy developers at the expense of the homeowners and students. There should be NO tax abatement for residential development. That should be the standard across New York State.

Nancy Cypser

Town of Babylon