HOW TO REDUCE PROPERTY TAXES WITH A CITIZENS AUDIT COMMITTEE, by Dr. Armand A. Fusco with Dr. Lewis M. Andrews

This manual is designed to help local politicians, taxpayer activists, and concerned citizens to lower onerous property taxes by organizing to reduce local budgets, both for their towns and schools.

Although written in the early months of 2009 – a time of dramatically falling home values, widespread job losses and worldwide economic difficulties – it is designed to be implemented during any period, so that events like those of today will never again put property tax payers in such dire economic circumstances.

This manual is also designed to be straightforward and accessible. Even policymakers are often confused by the terminology of local finance. Many otherwise intelligent people cannot clearly define “mil rate” or “grand list.” They are also made to feel helpless by false assertions that the cost of public employment is forever fixed by contract, that local programs are strictly mandated by state law, and that unions and other special interest groups are too powerful to be resisted.

What follows is based on the work of Dr. Armand Fusco, former school superintendent in Branford, Connecticut, and author of School Corruption: Betrayal of Children and the Public Trust (2005), a pioneering study of waste and fraud in K-12 education…

To read the entire report, click on this PDF link from the Yankee Institute.