Submitted article
State Sen. John A. DeFrancisco and Senate candidate Dave Renzi today teamed to fight New York City lawmakers’ attempts to impose new school aid cuts in the middle of the current school year – a move which will instantly produce job-killing higher taxes.
Sen. DeFrancisco and Renzi held a press conference in front of the Kingsford Park Elementary School in Oswego to speak out against budget-cutting efforts by New York City Democrats that could include reductions in promised school aid.
“We cannot go back on our commitment to education,” Sen. DeFrancisco said. “That is why we cannot accept the mid-year education cuts that the NYC Democrats want, and which will devastate schools in Central and Northern New York.”
“Albany has already broken its school aid promise to the property taxpayers of Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties once this year, when my opponent voted to cut $1 million from our school budgets,” Renzi said. “But cutting us again – with school already in session, teachers hired and budgets planned – and the higher property taxes that certainly would result are too much for our struggling families to bear.”
The calls for midyear school aid cuts are just the latest assault on middle-class Upstate homeowners by New York City politicians. Earlier this year, Darrel Aubertine joined an effort by his Democrat colleagues to gut the STAR program and take away rebate checks that have helped take some of the sting out of rising property taxes for middle class families. Aubertine’s plan would mean bigger tax bills for 800,000 Upstate homeowners.
Yesterday, Aubertine rolled out a new campaign commercial, in which he says he is “trying” to reduce property taxes.
“If cutting school aid mid-year, and taking away tax relief is Darrel Aubertine’s idea of ‘trying’ to cut property taxes, it’s clearly time to give someone else a chance,” said Renzi. “As Senator, I won’t just ‘try’ to bring relief, I will cut your taxes.”
The Legislature is expected back in session on Nov. 18 to consider ways to reduce state spending. Both Sen. DeFrancisco and Renzi support a cap on spending and taxes. Efforts to pass a tax cap this year were blocked by Aubertine’s fellow Democrats. They both also support efforts to eliminate waste and fraud from the bloated Medicaid budget.
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