Paterson Still Proposing Tax Caps, Opponents Still Opposing

ALBANY—Get ready for the next chapter in the battle over property-tax caps.

Governor David Paterson and Tom Suozzi, the Nassau County executive who chaired the state commission on property tax relief, again reiterated their call for a cap on property tax levies to control education spending.

One of the commission's final recommendations - which Paterson embraced - is to cap increases in the amount raised by property taxes at 4 percent a year, or 120 percent of the rate of inflation, whichever is less. School districts spending within those constraints would not need to submit their budget for popular approval; those exceeding the cap could override it with a vote of 55 or 60 percent of their residents, depending on how much state aid the district receives. A restructuring of the STAR program based on income was also proposed.

"While our first order of business must be to guide the state out of our current fiscal crisis, we have an obligation to make New York a more affordable place to live," Paterson said in a statement.

He has also said that reductions in education aid are on tap for next year, but that "we don't see those as necessarily competing."

In a statement, the New York State School Boards Association blasted the proposal as "handcuffing schools and forcing significant program cuts and layoffs." While they lauded proposals to stop imposing new mandates, they warned, "If Governor Paterson and the Legislature look only at capping property tax increases while at the same time warning local officials about a potential decrease in state aid, there will be serious concerns about how our school districts will operate in the coming year."

Education allies have blocked the measure before. The Assembly has not acted on a tax levy cap, instead passing a ‘circuit breaker' that reduces property taxes based on income but does not cap their overall growth.

Dan Weiller, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, said the current proposal is "under review." Republican Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco issued a statement supporting the cap and mandate relief.

Senate Republicans passed a tax levy cap earlier this year, spokesman Scott Reif pointed out, despite grief from New York State United Teachers, which lobbied against the measure in ad campaigns and withheld endorsements from Republicans who voted for the bill.

Carl Korn, a NYSUT spokesman, said the final package released today doesn't differ significantly on this point from what was proposed in June.