Residents and school districts these days have been faced with many difficult decisions as school budgets are up for a vote in less than a month. School districts and boards of education across Nassau County have been trying to put forth fiscally responsible budgets while still addressing the rising costs of education.

Even with costs going up, residents have also had to endure the impact of the adjusted base proportions as the tax burden for school taxes has shifted from businesses and utilities to residential properties. However, help may be on the way.

New York State Assemblyman Tom Alfano announced that a bill has passed the Senate and the Assembly that will protect homeowners from large shifts in the local tax burden. The bill, which cuts down the maximum shift in the tax burden from class three and four properties (utilities and commercial) to class one and two properties (residential), now awaits the governor's signature. If passed, the bill would reduce the shift in taxes from commercial to residential properties thereby easing the burden on residential taxpayers.

The bill, according to Alfano, will greatly assist school districts and taxpayers. "The nightmare of a huge shift in the local tax burden from business to local taxpayers is essentially over," said Alfano. "With schools preparing for budget votes, many seniors and working families are concerned over the tax burden. Now a big piece of that puzzle is solved."

Without the bill, the shift to residential taxpayers from the business and utilities classes was in upwards of 5 percent in one year. The result was a shift of millions of dollars to residential taxpayers from business taxpayers. In some cases, residential taxpayers would shoulder over 80 percent of the tax burden from approximately 60 percent, according to Alfano's office. Under the bill, taxpayers won't see a shift of anything more than 2 percent.

"This was a must for our communities. The shift to taxpayers would have been back-breaking," said Alfano.

The shift in tax burden from one class of property to another is not the result of the county's recent reassessment, according to chairman of the Nassau County Board of Assessors Charles O'Shea. The shift is said to be the result of continuing and rapid increasing values of residential properties.

By limiting the amount of the shift from 5 percent to 2 percent, the increase to the homeowners' taxes would decrease. "By capping the increase to a maximum of 2 percent for this year, the legislation will reduce the potential increase caused by the shift from one class to another faced by all Nassau County residential property owners by more than half, and reduce the net effect on homeowners to 2 percent, which is the same level faced by their neighbors in New York City," said Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, who introduced the bill along with Senators Dean Skelos and Michael Balboni.