WXXI: Property Tax Cap Hot Topic at Capitol (2008-06-16)

The New York legislative session is winding to a close, and high property taxes are still a hot topic. But as the time ticks by, chances that there will be action on a tax cap are evaporating.

Governor David Paterson, who is continuing to push his plan for a property tax cap, met with opponents of the cap Monday morning. The meeting included representatives of teachers unions, school boards, and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which successfully sued to increase school funding by billions of dollars a year. The Governor says the meeting was held in his ceremonial office, known as the Red Room.

"This is when I learned why this room is called 'The Red Room'", the governor quipped.

School Boards Association executive director Tim Kremer says the meeting was actually amicable, and he says he felt the governor listened to the groups' concerns.

"He was pretty direct with us," said Kremer. "There probably is going to be a ways to go before we get on the same page."

Chances appear slim for the passage of the property tax cap plan in the remaining week of the legislative session. Both Majority Party Legislative Leaders have not yet committed to the plan.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, a Republican, prefers his own tax-cutting plan instead, which allows for communities to impose tax freezes or moratoriums, but does not impose a statewide tax cap.

"What the people are buzzing about is the fact that property taxes in New York State are confiscatory," Bruno said.

Senator Bruno has not said that he'll back Paterson's plan to cap school taxes at 4% a year, and has described the debate around the issue as "one upping each other".

The Senate plan is not supported in the Assembly. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, called it an old piece of legislation that had been recycled for the purpose of "posturing".

"There hasn't been a groundswell of support for that bill," said Silver, who said he believed that the Senate GOP would raise income taxes to pay for the plan.

Senator Bruno denied that.

"Read my lips," Bruno said, in an echo of former President George H.W. Bush. "No income tax increase."

Silver has meanwhile continued to advocate for a circuit breaker to help the poorest and the elderly pay for property taxes. It would be financed, in some versions of the legislation, by an increase in the state's income tax on wealthier people.

Governor Paterson has admitted that he does not expect the property tax issue to be resolved before the end of the session, or even before elections. But he warned that waiting will only make a long standing problem worse.

"We have studied this problem ad nauseam," said Paterson, who said people continue to leave the state in droves because of high taxes.

While Paterson may have problems persuading the legislature that the property tax cap is a good idea, he has the majority of the public on his side. A Siena College poll finds that 74% of New Yorkers support a law capping the growth of property taxes.