Westchester County”™s management ”“ and its largest-in-the-nation property tax burden ”“ is likely to be a debate point that could decide who New York”™s next governor will be.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has avoided discussing Republican challenger Rob Astorino or even mentioning his name. But Westchester, where Cuomo lives and Astorino is the county executive, was featured prominently in the governor”™s speech accepting the Democratic Party”™s nomination to run for re-election.
“Westchester County: the highest property taxes in the United States of America,” he told a crowd of delegates and party leaders May 22 at the party convention in Suffolk County, Long Island. “That”™s the legacy of Westchester County.”
The county has been designated the most taxed in the U.S. for several years based on U.S. Census figures, though that ranking takes into account all property taxes, including school, city, town and other municipal taxes that county government has no direct control over. During Astorino”™s tenure, the county has kept its tax levy flat or reduced it, but critics of the executive said there were missed opportunities for shared services and consolidation that would have reduced the overall tax bill.
Cuomo has touted his first term as governor as a pivotal one in history, in which businesses and jobs have returned to New York and a sense of trust in state government has been restored. The state budget has passed on time every year since Cuomo has been in office after years of gridlock preventing on-time approvals.
Astorino”™s view of the state is in stark contrast to his opponent”™s, and he has portrayed New York as being rife with government corruption and ineptitude. He”™s called the state one of the most business-unfriendly states in the union and said it requires such large contributions to state programs from municipalities that property taxes have technically become a state tax.
Democrats have a 2-to-1 voter registration advantage over Republicans in New York state, and polling results last month continued to show strong leads for the party. Quinnipiac University”™s May poll showed Cuomo leading Astorino by a margin of 57 percent to 28 percent.
Astorino made up some ground since a February poll in which he trailed Cuomo 58 percent to 24 percent, but the county executive lacks name recognition outside of the area (74 percent of those polled said they didn”™t know enough about him).
What could complicate Cuomo”™s chances is the inclusion of a third candidate that voters would perceive as more liberal, according to Quinnipiac. Cuomo”™s vote total drops to 37 percent to Astorino”™s 24 percent if a hypothetical candidate runs on the pro-union Working Families Party line. The unnamed candidate would get 22 percent in that scenario, the poll said, but Cuomo still led all candidates. Cuomo has clashed with the Working Families leadership over several labor-based issues.
Republicans are hoping Astorino, who overcame a similar registration disadvantage in Westchester twice, can upset the governor based on fiscal policies and what they view as a strong management record in the county. Although Cuomo hasn”™t mentioned him by name, Democratic ads early in the campaign have sought to paint Astorino as having extreme views aligned with the tea party.
Rounding out the Democratic ticket are Cuomo”™s running mate, lieutenant governor candidate Kathy Hochul, and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman.
Hochul, a former Buffalo congresswoman, was named as a candidate in a surprise announcement from Cuomo after several weeks of speculation since current Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy said he wouldn”™t seek re-election.
“Over the last four years, like many New Yorkers, I”™ve witnessed an unprecedented optimism and enthusiasm for our state, especially upstate New York,” she said.
Hochul, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013, will be the first female lieutenant governor candidate for the Demcoratic Party in 35 years, Cuomo said. “That, in and of itself, is exciting,” he said in the video announcement.
