From the Desk of Senator Elaine Phillips

Holding the line on property taxes, boosting funding for our schools and investing in 21st Century infrastructure. Those are my priorities in the new state budget that's being crafted right now in Albany.

The Senate's plan would help Long Island families by:

Delivering Tax Relief & Promoting Economic Development:

• Protecting the STAR program so that it continues to deliver property tax relief for homeowners
• Reversing changes made last year to STAR that significantly delayed tax relief payments to many homeowners
• Making the property tax cap permanent
• Providing additional tax relief for small businesses to help them grow and create jobs

Investing in Education:

• Delivering record state education aid to school districts, even beyond the funding promised by the Governor
• Doubling the Governor's foundation aid proposal to deliver more state aid directly to the classroom
• Making college more affordable by enabling more Long Island families to qualify for financial aid
• Restoring millions of dollars in funding to local libraries, which are at the core of our communities

Helping Local Governments:

• Providing record funding for repairs to local roads and bridges
• Delivering more funding for NICE Bus that could be used to stop planned cuts to routes and service

Safeguarding Our Drinking Water:

• Investing $8 billion in public drinking water improvements statewide, and dealing with contaminants that threaten our families' health

Protecting Our Children:

• Doing more to address the heroin and opioid-abuse crisis impacting every Long Island community
• Helping improve the quality and safety of child care by giving parents an easy, online way to check a provider for past inspections and violations

I hope you will take the time to learn more about the Senate's plan by clicking here.  And please don't hesitate to let me know what you think.

Sincerely,

Elaine