The New York State Senate passed a bill in May that would extend a limit on property taxes levied by school districts and municipalities, but local government officials in Westchester have voiced concerns about paying for critical projects while abiding by the cap.
The legislation would make permanent a law signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in his first year in office in 2011 that is set to expire in 2016. The law has kept property taxes from increasing more than 2 percent annually or above the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.
The Senate sent the bill to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, where it will be considered and could be voted on in the coming weeks. However, the 2015 legislative session ends June 17, and if it doesn”™t get voted on before then, bill S5597 would have to be reintroduced next year.
A person in the office of Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell Jr., a New York City Democrat and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said it is too soon to tell if the Assembly will vote on the legislation.
The tax cap can be overridden by local governments and fiscally independent school districts with a 60 percent majority vote.
Bronxville Mayor Mary Marvin said in an email that the village board of trustees votes to override the cap every year “on principle” to show its support for local government.
The tax cap, she wrote, is a “political ploy to advance the careers of a few at the expense of local governments especially local infrastructure repairs which are not exempt from the tax.” She said it was unrealistic for the state to expect local governments to make cuts to such essential services.
And Marvin is not the only municipal government official with concerns about how to pay for the costs of projects including road repaving and sewer pipe replacement.
Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said he doesn”™t object to the tax cap, but infrastructure improvements can”™t be neglected.
“If we want to keep taxes low you don”™t want to have artificially low taxes and then a couple of years from now have a gigantic tax increase,” Feiner said, because deferring infrastructure work could be more costly in the long run.
Feiner and others have sent letters to members of the Legislature advising them on alternative ways of addressing road repairs. Feiner suggested creating an inspector general for infrastructure who would monitor an inventory of roadways and establishing a bond to help local governments pay for groundwork costs.
Proponents of the bill ”” which include The Business Council of New York State, the state chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, the New York Farm Bureau and many in the Republican-majority Senate ”” say the tax cap makes the state more attractive to potential business owners and homeowners because the reduction in property taxes during the last three years has saved landowners billions of dollars.
“It means that over time New York state would go from being one of the highest-taxed states in the country, as far as property taxes are concerned, and then hopefully to one of the lowest,” said Zack Hutchins, a spokesman for The Business Council of New York State.
Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate Republican Conference, said the savings from the last three years with the cap are good for the economy and that lawmakers in Albany have not forgotten about local government needs.
“At the state level we want to do everything we can do to help localities. Infrastructure has been a priority of the Senate Republican Conference, certainly mandate relief, and there are other things we can do at the state level to help localities,” he said.
