To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
Governor Cuomo is still trying to sell New Yorkers on the two percent property tax cap that was passed and signed into law earlier this year. So far, 85 percent of communities that have released their 2012 budgets are staying within the cap. But there are hundreds more budgets to come, including school district budgets. Our Nick Reisman looks at why the tax cap debate isn't over just yet.
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
NEW YORK STATE -- It's a refrain we've come to expect from Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“Local property taxes are out of control,” Cuomo said.
He was beating that tax cap drum again on Monday in a web video, right as local governments begin finalizing spending plans with the two percent limit on the growth of levies passed by the legislature in June firmly in place. In an eight minute video, the governor touted the benefits of the cap, namely controlling the property taxes in the county. Cuomo, who has made in-roads in the moderate suburban counties, insisted the cap is already working.
Cuomo said, “The cap has stopped automatic tax increases and brought much-needed scrutiny to government spending. Of the nearly 400 municipalities that have proposed their budgets the vast majority, nearly 85 percent, have stayed within the cap.”
But the governor tells only a fraction of the story. There nearly 10,000 taxing districts in New York alone that fall under the cap. He also struck a defensive note, saying that voters have the power when it comes to taxes.
“I am not saying what the communities should do. I am saying that I want you involved and I want the people to have the power as opposed to the politicians,” said Cuomo.
At the state level, meanwhile, Cuomo's budget office released a statement saying it would not release a mid-year budget update for now, citing the volatility in the financial markets.
Budget Director Bob Megna said in a statement that, “While there may be other branches of state government that may put forth estimates, the Governor’s office does not yet have its projections due to the volatility of the market and dynamic nature of the situation.”
Senate Democratic Minority Leader John Sampson seized on this news, saying that his conference estimates a mid-year gap of $249 million and a deficit of $2.4 billion for the 2012-13 fiscal year. EJ McMahon of the Empire Center says the deficit could be even higher.
“I think that the thing to focus on is next year's budget gap, which I think is over $3 billion, based on the some of the things we're hearing, although the governor hasn't issued his mid-year budget update to confirm that,” said McMahon.