Published: July 18, 2008 11:30 pm            

OUR VIEW: Tax deal should get OK

Though we haven’t heard officially from the North Tonawanda school district yet, it looks like a compromise has been reached over the city’s gaffe in school tax collection.

All we can say is this: It’s about time.

Former City Treasurer Leslie Stozenfels failed to crunch numbers properly on the interest owed on deliquent accounts. Exactly how much money went uncollected varies depending on who you talk to, but to be sure, the district was out some cash (it says the number could be as high as $400,000).

Since this whole issue surfaced in 2006, it’s been controversial. Watching an insular school district lash out against defensive politicians has been an unsetteling scene for taxpayers. It has also served as insight into the mindset of our elected officials at City Hall and Board of Education. When one public entity takes another to court in a city this size, we can only conclude that both etities have a mentality of ownership over taxpayer money.

Let’s be crystal clear about this: It isn’t their money. It belongs to the taxpayers of North Tonawanda, whose interested were pushed to the back burner while two arms of local government couldn’t reach a deal.

Fighting over whose slice of the pie is too small does nothing for what should be the ultimate goal — to shrink the size of the pie entirely.

The city has offered to collect school taxes at no charge for three years, saving the district about $15,00 per year. It seems a fair compromise to us and we urge the school board to accept the city’s offer and move on to more pressing business.

        

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