The two percent tax cap signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June looks good on paper, but does it mean taxes really cannot rise above that number? It depends.
If the local municipality or school district budget goes above the 2 percent limit, it can still pass if the proposed budget receives 60 percent approval from the voters. It also means those municipalities and school districts must be able to make the case for going over the limit, which can be vexing, considering many of the costs entwined in the taxes are costs mandated by the state and must be paid, like it or not.
Close to 200 municipal officials, school districts and a sprinkling of interested taxpayers turned out for a panel discussion and breakout sessions at SUNY New Paltz on Oct. 3, hosted by the school”™s Center for Outreach and Mid-Hudson Pattern for Progress.
Among the many who came to explain the way the tax cap will work was former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, chairman of the state Commission of Property Tax Relief, which was tasked to craft the basis for the legislation by former Govs. Eliot Spitzer and David Patterson.
Jonathan Drapkin, executive director of Pattern, said one breakout session on municipal consolidation highlighted the successful merger of the Saugerties town and village police departments. “It can be done,” said Drapkin, “and town supervisor, Greg Helsmoortel, outlined the steps taken to achieve the goal.”
After six hours, nearly 25 percent of those who signed up for the program were still there. “That told me something. People want to understand how the tax cap is going to work and how to implement it,” Drapkin said. “Yes, a few walked out fairly early, shaking their heads. If they were there expecting a quick explanation and answer, they weren”™t going to get it.
“People do not want to pay any more taxes. But how can local governments and school districts make that happen? How can they adjust budgets to make the debits and credits balance out and stay at or under two percent? That”™s the challenge of the tax cap.”
Drapkin said the tax cap, while admirable and needed, comes at one of the worst times imaginable, considering the economy. “It”™s one thing to give out benefits and raise salaries when the economy is booming. It is quite another when you see mortgage tax revenue has practically disappeared, that sales tax revenue has taken a significant reduction, and that growing ratables is very difficult.
“Right now, taxpayers can”™t afford to be generous. They have every reason to look at salaries and benefits given in municipalities and school districts  and to ask they be adjusted to reflect the times we are living in. We are in for three or four ”“ maybe more ”“ very rough years. Unfortunately, the notion of shared sacrifice that existed in prior generations is not there today.”
With Cuomo and the state Legislature already looking at the 2012-2013 budget, most who embrace the tax cap proposal are as anxious to see mandate relief included in the new budget as they were to see the tax cap enacted.
Said Suozzi, “Mandate relief will come. It will be forced to come, as a result of the tax cap. It”™s the only way to make it happen.”
