By Andrew Hackmack|
The New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief is calling for each school district to cap its annual tax levy increase at 4 percent.
The tax levy is the major source of revenue for most school districts in New York state. Gov. Paterson has proposed legislation to implement this cap of 4 percent or 120 percent of the Consumer Price Index - whichever is less.
If a district wants to exceed that cap, the commission suggested a budget should win voter approval by more than just a simple majority. The governor accepted that recommendation, too. His proposal says that if districts want to exceed the cap, 55 percent of voters must approve the budget, and 60 percent if a district gets a state aid boost of at least 5 percent.
"New York is the highest taxed state in the nation," Paterson said, "and we can no longer afford to ignore the reality that property taxes are driving people and businesses out."
There is one significant difference between the commission's report and the governor's proposal. Suozzi's commission recommended that if a school district sets its budget under the four percent cap, voter approval would not be required. The governor did not accept this idea, wanting to preserve the right of homeowners to vote for their school district budget every year.
State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) agreed. "A school budget involves more than the tax rate," he said. "Parents have a right to vote on how school districts are spending their money."
If a school budget is defeated twice, a district automatically must adopt a contingency spending plan. In that situation, a district is capped in how much it can raise its budget -- usually between 3 and 4 percent. However, that cap is on spending and not on the tax levy.
County Executive Suozzi rejected the notion that contingency spending already acts as a tax cap. "A lot of times we vote against the school budget and the contingency budget is often higher," he said. "It's become a sham process and often very few people vote."
Suozzi did acknowledge the pressure school districts face as a result of unfunded state and federal mandates. His commission recommended several steps to provide mandate relief, including a provision that would prohibit new education requirements without a thorough review of the financial impact on local governments. "After talking with school districts and taxpayers," he said, "I realized they were struggling with unfunded state mandates."
Another recommendation of the commission and the governor is a School Tax Relief Program (STAR) Circuit Breaker. This would provide tax relief to certain individuals based on their income and ability to pay property taxes.
Assemblyman Bob Barra (R-Lynbrook), said he is against the tax cap proposal because homeowners need further relief. He said school districts should have no increases for a few years to let people's salaries "catch-up" to past years of rising taxes.
"We've got to push our schools to be as good with the money," he said, "as they are at educating our kids."
Richard Cunningham, assistant superintendent for business in West Hempstead, said the board of education is very cognizant of the property tax burden and have done their best to minimize the impact to homeowners. "They know it is expensive to live in West Hempstead and Nassau," he said. "In West Hempstead, the average property tax increase has been less than 1 percent."
Barra said he acknowledges that school districts will face certain rising costs no matter what and said the state government must do its part every year to bring in a record amount of state aid. He also said for every dollar school districts spend on mandates, the state should match it.
Cunningham said state aid increase vary from year-to-year. Factors such as enrollment, district wealth and financial resources available at the state level affect support levels. As for the unfunded mandates, Cunningham said it has had an impact on the district's budget but he is glad to hear the report addressed this issue.
Malverne resident Frank Chiachiere, a member of both the Valley Stream Central High School District and District 13 boards of education, is glad to see the property tax issue finally being discussed at a state-wide level. However, he does not feel the tax cap is the solution. "I think the issue is much larger," he said. "We have to look at the whole question of school financing."
Chiachiere said a Blue Ribbon Panel should be formed to review how schools are funded in New York. The panel should consist of lawmakers, board of education members, school administrators and citizens. There needs to be input from Long Island to the Western Tier.
He agrees that taxes are placing a stranglehold on residents, but fears a tax cap would be detrimental to local school districts. "Everything is going up," he said. "Look at what happened with heating oil prices."
Chiachiere said if the tax cap questions lead to greater discussion about a long-term fix for school funding, he is all for that. But he is not ready to accept the cap as a final answer.
Judy Rattner and Melissa Bykofsky contributed to this story. Comments about it? AHackmack@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
