Upstate and suburban New Yorkers will vote tomorrow on school budgets that, for the first time, will be hemmed in by a property-tax cap.

And that cap may well slow tax growth.

Which, obviously, is good news.

But be forewarned: Property taxpayers still face painful hikes.

Hits they can ill afford.

But hits that could be mitigated — quickly — by responsible exploitation of readily reachable natural resources.

Such as natural gas.

But first, consider the tax issue.

According to Gov. Cuomo’s Web site, New York’s median property-tax hit here is nearly double the national median….

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