I would like to express my profound gratitude to Governor David A. Paterson and the members of our Long Island delegation to the State Legislature for restoring state aid to the Roslyn Schools in the 2008/09 state budget. With a total spending of $121.7 billion this result was certainly equitable.

The theory being advanced was that more affluent communities could afford to lose additional state aid and could be deprived of these funds to benefit others. That logic is tantamount to saying that those who pay the most should get the least. If enacted, the students on Long Island, which make up 17 percent of all New York students, would have received only 8.2 percent of the proposed increase in funding. That would have been unfair and unjust.

The reality is that these and even added funds are sorely needed in order to avoid even further burdens to our residents. In a poll taken by "The Long Island Index" 84 percent of residents in Nassau County are dismayed and feel that taxes are an extremely serious problem that plagues Long Island.

Additionally, if the original cuts to our schools were adopted, there may well have been other spillover effects. I have no doubt that if state aid to our schools were slashed in more affluent communities, the next autonomous taxing districts to fall prey to this reasoning would have been local governments where the very same taxpayers reside. Villages, which collect only 15 to 20 percent of all taxes, rely even more heavily on state funding for roads (CHIPS) and other major grants and revenues. This could have harmed our residents on multiple fronts.

It is therefore a pleasure to thank Governor Paterson, Majority Leader Bruno, Speaker Silver, Minority Leaders Tedisco and Smith, and particularly the elected officials who represent East Hills: State Senator Craig Johnson, Assemblyman Charles Lavine, Assemblymember Michelle Schimel, and even another leader on Long Island, Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre for decisively protecting and promoting the interests of our residents. Because of their action it is a threat that has now been averted.

Michael R. Koblenz,

Mayor, Village of East Hills