Schettino Outlines Plan to Stop the ‘Brain Drain’ - Elect John Schettino for Islip Town Council, Islip, New York

In The News

August 27, 2007

Schettino Outlines Plan to Stop the ‘Brain Drain’

Town Council Candidate to Bring Together Town, County and State Governments to Provide Real Solutions to Stop the ‘Brain Drain’

(West Islip, New York) John Schettino, candidate for Islip Town Council and a member of Islip Planning Board today announced a comprehensive program to stop the “brain drain” and ensure that Long Island’s young families continue to live, work and raise their families on Long island.

“Numerous press reports and polling indicate that more and more of Long Island’s youth and young families are seeking job opportunities and moving off Long Island due to its high cost of living and exceptionally high cost of housing,” said Schettino.

According to the Long Island Board of Realtors, the median price of a home sold in Suffolk County in 2006 was $456,419. Considering a 10% down payment and closing costs, a first-time home buyer must put up about $60,000 just to close on a home, before repairs and furnishings. A typical homeowner then faces monthly mortgage payments of over $4,000 when you include rising real estate taxes, homeowners insurance and purchase mortgage insurance.

Schettino’s plan calls on all levels of government to cooperate to address what is quickly becoming a crisis. “Many of the efforts to date have been window-dressing. Too often our elected officials hide behind the blame game of federalism, saying it’s not the Town, it’s the County, or it’s not the County, it’s the state’s problem. We’ve seen this with immigration The same applies to creating housing opportunities and incentives to keep young families on Long Island,” said Schettino.

An outline of Schettino’s six point program is as follows:

Use town zoning power and smart growth, and by working with County agencies and other organizations, revitalize our downtowns by creating 1,000 new units in these areas.
Suffolk County and New York State to waive transfer tax and mortgage recording taxes up to $500,000 on first-time home purchases. On a $456,000 home this would amount to a $4,758 savings in mortgage taxes and $1,824 in state transfer taxes.
Suffolk County to waive all filing fees for first-time homebuyers. On a typical deed transfer and mortgage filing, county costs amount to over $325, including a $5.00 Commissioner of Education Fee and a $15.00 Cultural Education Fund fee.
New York State enhanced STAR program to apply to first time homebuyers for 2 years for homes sold up to $500,000. This would provide an annual savings to homeowners of about $3,000.
Islip Town to waive town CO, Street, Sewer and Tax search fees for first-time homebuyers. This could amount to a savings of over $200, depending on the number of searches conducted by title companies.
Provide a program to permit a limited number of accessory apartments that will allow young families and seniors to afford mortgage and tax payments on Long Island with rental income.

“I’m a businessman and a problem solver. If the various levels of government work together, we can save the average first-time homebuyer about $12,000 over the first two years of this program. This issue is my top priority. For too long we’ve provided programs that applied only to low income persons. This has allowed politicians to claim victory, while the rest of us have wondered if government is really working for us. While these programs have helped some, the crisis lies with our middle class working families, especially our young families who are being forced off Long Island and our seniors who have long since fled the great place they helped build,” said Schettino.