Caption A report just issued by Comptroller Howard Weitzman reveals surprising disparities in the size of New York State STAR rebate checks distributed to homeowners in Nassau and Westchester counties with similarly-valued properties and school tax bills. Nassau residents receive significantly lower rebates in almost every case.

At a Mineola press conference with school district superintendents from East Rockaway and Jericho, Comptroller Weitzman said, "The inequitable distribution of the STAR rebates is outrageous. The state school aid formulas and STAR calculations make no sense."

According to the report, the average basic STAR rebate check in Nassau is $240.75. By contrast, the average in Westchester is $386.27. In many of the communities compared in the two counties, the difference in rebate checks is frequently $200 or more.

"Looking at the STAR rebate checks arriving in our mailboxes," Comptroller Weitzman said, "it would be logical to think that owners of comparably valued homes, or who pay similar amounts of school tax, should receive rebate checks that are roughly equivalent. However, in almost every instance, Nassau homeowners received much lower STAR rebates than their neighbors in Westchester. In an egregious example, that of Manhasset, residents will get a check that is fully 177 percent lower than the rebate paid to their counterparts in the Westchester community of Katonah-Lewisboro. In Manhasset, residents can expect a $153 rebate. In Katonah-Lewisboro, homeowners will receive $425. Average school and library taxes in the two towns are almost identical."

According to Mr. Weitzman, the rebates are even more unfair for low income seniors who are eligible for Enhanced STAR. In Manhasset, those seniors will receive $255. In Katnonah-Lewisboro, those seniors will receive $710.

In a ranking, all the school districts by the amount of the rebate checks, only three of the 30 districts with the highest STAR rebates are located in Nassau, and only one of the 30 communities with the lowest rebates is in Westchester. Mr. Weitzman said that Westchester was selected for the comparison because it is an affluent, mature suburban county similar to Nassau in size, residential makeup and property values.

Weitzman and the superintendents called for a revision of current formulas that determine the distribution of state aid to school districts and an overhaul of New York State's school aid and Tax Relief (STAR) rebate program.

Great Neck Public Schools Superintendent Ronald L. Friedman stated, "Regarding STAR relief, a clear inequity exists between Westchester and Nassau, with Nassau districts being significantly shortchanged. Nassau taxpayers in districts of comparable wealth to Westchester districts are getting the short end of the state aid stick when it comes to STAR. The data are surprising, even shocking."

Jericho Public Schools Superintendent Henry L. Grishman said, "Nassau's communities and school districts have struggled with less than their fair share of state aid for far too long. I commend Comptroller Weitzman for shedding light on the basic inequities of the state aid system."

"The unfairness in this year's STAR rebates simply follows the unfairness in the overall STAR formula," Comptroller Weitzman said. A comparison of Basic STAR savings for the 2006-2007 school year shows that Westchester residents received an average $1,840 STAR exemption and Nassau residents received $1,020, an 80 percent difference. This is a regional issue. Suffolk residents received even lower STAR exemptions, $990 on average, than Nassau residents."

"We are not calling for lower rebates for Westchester homeowners," said the comptroller, "but for a fairer distribution of education aid throughout the state. Nassau County residents carry the burden of more of their school district's budgets, receive less STAR assistance than comparable Westchester County and now will receive a much lower STAR rebate check because of the unfairness of the STAR rebate formula to Nassau County residents ... Our taxpayers need a school aid formula that is transparent and that meets the test of common sense."

Comptroller Weitzman first examined the disparity in state education aid in a December 2004 report to state lawmakers entitled, "School Taxes and State Aid in Nassau." That study, he said, found that Nassau, which leads the state with the highest school tax bills, also receives the least amount of aid in New York ---16.6 percent vs. the statewide average of 37.4 (2002 figures). The comptroller called for a revamping of existing aid formulas to take into consideration residential income levels, saying "any future changes in the formulas should not be weighted heavily on property values, and must consider ability to pay."

The comptroller's letter to Albany, as well as additional information on the school tax issue can be found on the comptroller's website at: http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/comptroller/index.html.