MAKE ALL PAY FOR SCHOOL, MAYOR SAYS
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Middletown Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger really wants to bring those tax bills down. So much so that he’s urging his governing body to vote in favor of a resolution that would erase the largest item on the quarterly statements: school spending.
Scharfenberger, right, wants to absolve residents from paying for education through local or regional property taxes, a system that he says is inequitable, and instead fund schools through the state sales tax.
“Right now, two-thirds of bills goes to education. If you take that two-thirds off of property taxes, you’d be able to cut people’s taxes,” he said.
He’s asked township attorney Brian Nelson to draft a resolution in support of the idea, and anticipates it will be ready for a vote at the committee’s next regular meeting on August 16.
