While business advocates last week continued to push for quick passage in Albany of a proposed cap on school tax levies as a first step in property tax reform, school board members in Westchester County warned the cap would harm educational quality, at a time of continued enrollment increases in many local school districts, if it is not part of a broader package of more urgently needed reform measures.
Those differing views were aired last week at a public forum in Rye Brook co-sponsored by the Westchester County Association (WCA) and League of Women Voters of Westchester. WCA officials have called on state legislators to extend their legislative session, expected to end today, until the Assembly and Senate enact a 4 percent cap on annual school district property tax increases as recently proposed by the state Commission on Property Relief and Gov. David Paterson.
WCA President William M. Mooney Jr. stressed the realpolitiks of the proposed legislation and its adoption, which is opposed by the powerful state teachers union. “This is the first time in a long time that we”™ve got something on the table, and that”™s why we in the Westchester County Association are supporting this,” he said.
But critics said relief from unfunded state mandates imposed on school districts and a shift in focus from schools as the chief target of reform to the spending excesses of state and county government would more effectively curb the problem of rising property taxes.
Lisa Tane, a Briarcliff Manor school board member, said she favored the “circuit breaker” solution, another measure recommended by the state commission after a tax cap is in place. The circuit breaker bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, D-Ossining, would allow middle-income households to claim a personal income tax credit equal to 70 percent of real property taxes that exceed 6 percent to 8 percent of a household”™s adjusted gross income.
“We”™re very concerned that the push here is for the property tax cap and that that is going to come about first,” Tane said. “The bottom line is that we can”™t look at the tax cap alone. We must do it as a package. Our concern is that if the cap comes first, the rest will not come” from legislators lacking “political courage.”
Mount Vernon school board member Elias S. Gootzeit angrily denounced supporters of the cap, which he said would further harm the poor Mount Vernon district, whose children “don”™t see equity at all.”
“I have a real problem with you talking about a 4 percent cap and not talking about how to pay for schools,” he said. By placing a cap before educational equity for children, “I think that”™s cause for a revolution,” Gootzeit said.
Larchmont Mayor Elizabeth N. Feld said the tax cap “is a very critical and effective first step” toward property tax relief. “The public sentiment is behind it. We need the political will to back it up,” she said.
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