The annual school budget votes are coming up next week, the 20th, and you need to get out and vote. The Levittown district has trimmed their budget to the point where it is less than a 4% tax increase (down from almost 7%), which is pretty good. And the district, according to the info they provided, is very efficient with the money it spends compared to other schools.

And also, vote for Kimberly Smith for the Board of Ed, she is a great person and has 2 kids in the district, so you know she will always do what is right for the kids.

LIPA, also known as the Long Island Power Authority, sucks. Why you ask? Well, I am glad you asked, ’cause I got a list of reasons….

Shall we start with how they rob Long Islanders blind? Instead of applying for rate increases the past several years, which is a process that has to go through the NY State Public Services Commission and is subject to a great deal of scrutiny, they have used the increase in fuel prices to hike up our rates by tagging on a “fuel surcharge”. This has increased rates something like 30% if you believe the politicians.  Add to that the fact that they have a surplus of these surcharges and it makes you wonder why they are asking for a 3% rate increase.

But closer to home, literally, is the fact that here in Levittown, Saddle Lane to be exact, the power seems to go out every time someone sneezes to hard.  Whichoccurs probably about 8-10 times a year. Now I am not talking about the times that it goies out and comes back on in 15 minutes. No, these are the multi-hour break out the generator type outages that happen 8-10 time a year. It has gotten to the point where I think I just might have to write my local county and state representatives to complain, and get my neighbors to sign the letter. Maybe then LIPA will do something to actually fix the problem so the power actually stays on.

Today is the day to vote on the EXEL bond issue. In a nutshell, NYS is floating a bond based upon income taxes to fund capital improvements in the schools. Each distrcit is getting a boat load of money, $7.3 million in the case of Levittown, and all they have to pay is the servicing fees ($380,000 for Levittown) and use the cash for capital improvements. No increase in school taxes required, so go out and vote!