The property-tax cap is a necessary tool to get taxes under control in New York state — but only if it is accompanied by mandate reform. You can't tell municipalities and schools that they can get only so much money out of their constituents and then hit them with state-required spending.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants the State Legislature to enact a 2-percent limit on how much taxing entities can raise the levy each year. After years of rising taxes, the people of New York are fed up and strongly support the law. They have waited, impatiently, for their local taxing entities to take their own steps to curb spending but are not satisfied with the results.
Most local school boards have made an effort toward that end, whether out of general concern for the budgets of the people in their community or out of fear of budget rejection. But the effort has not worked in most local districts.
In our area, only 10 schools would have met the 2-percent limit in their 2011-12 budgets: Northeastern Clinton, Northern Adirondack, St. Regis Falls and Salmon River, which had no increase; Willsboro, which actually went down a touch; and Crown Point (up 1.7 percent), Keene (1.8), Minerva (1.74), Moriah (1.89) and Saranac Lake (1.96).
The other 16 asked for more than 2 percent in new taxes, most of them around 4 percent, a few even higher.
A tax cap is a workable idea — 43 other states have them — even though schools, and some government officials, will tell you it will lead to doom and despair. In 1980, Massachusetts set a 2.5-percent tax cap. At the time, its state and local taxes were third-highest in the country. It now ranks 33rd.
But a tax cap is viable only if the state isn't going to keep piling on more costly requirements without providing any funding. For municipalities, the biggest burden is the local share of Medicaid costs. The governor has appointed a Task Force to come up with Medicaid reform suggestions that could help reduce the costs. But what the New York State Association of Counties wants is a full state takeover of the local Medicaid expense.
For schools, the heaviest weight comes from state requirements that they describe as outdated, inflexible and expensive. The State School Boards Association says the state pension system, the cost of teacher disciplinary procedures and special-education mandates all need revision. The boards also want the ability to freeze salaries after contracts expire and to be able to use national cooperative contracts for purchases.
Some proponents of the property-tax cap, including the New York State Association of Realtors, think that if Cuomo can get his cap in place, it will force mandate relief. We don't think that is the right approach.
You can't, for example, give a family only $100 to spend on groceries, tell them they have to buy everything on a list that totals $300 and just hope the grocery store might lower its prices.
The governor and legislative leaders last week came to a tentative agreement on a property-tax cap, which would be the toughest in the nation if enacted at 2 percent. But more negotiations are needed before it is final. We hope that includes real action on mandate restrictions and reform — or local schools and governments may have to take drastic steps that we will all regret.
