ALBANY – Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday promoted his plan in which many Long Island homeowners would see an average annual savings of $1,186 over four years by using state funds to subsidize high local property taxes, state officials said.

Cuomo announced the property tax relief proposal to the Legislature in January. The proposal is in Cuomo’s “Opportunity Agenda,” parts of which are in his 2015-16 budget proposal due April 1.

Cuomo said 332,417 Long Island homeowners are among 1.3 million homeowners statewide who would benefit from the program as it is phases in through 2017.

 “This program addresses one of the most important challenges we face as a state — making New York affordable by providing real, meaningful, significant tax relief that will make a difference in people’s lives,” Cuomo said in a statement.

But the break isn’t available to businesses or apartment building owners and fails to restrain the growth in some of the nation’s highest property taxes, said E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative research group. He said New York’s high property taxes are driven by spending, and Cuomo’s proposal doesn’t curb that or reduce state mandates that could reduce local costs.

Cuomo said 207,250 homeowners in Nassau County would receive $250.5 million in state subsidies for an average savings of $1,208 a year. In Suffolk County, 125,167 homeowners will benefit from $143.7 million in state funds applied toward local property taxes for an average break of $1,148.

Households with incomes below $250,000 a year with property taxes that are more than 7 percent of their income qualify for the break. The credit is up to half of the amount of tax over that 6 percent threshold. The complex formula aims to most benefit New Yorkers with the highest tax burdens and lowest income levels.

© 2015 Newsday

Tags:

You may also like

Policy analyst: Cuomo wrong to write-off nursing home criticism as political conspiracy

“The importance of discussing this and getting the true facts out is to understand what did and didn’t happen so we can learn from it in case this happens again,” Hammond said. Read More

The good, the bad and the ugly in Cuomo’s budget

“We are at the early stages of what shapes up as the biggest state and city fiscal crisis since the Great Depression,” said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center. “Borrowing and short-term cuts aside, the budget doesn’t chart any clear path out of it.” Read More

Editorial: Cuomo’s problematic Medicaid maneuvers

“It’s everything that’s wrong with Albany in one ugly deal,” Bill Hammond, a health policy expert at the fiscally conservative Empire Center, told The Times. Read More

Gov. Cuomo’s Lawsuit on Pres. Trump’s Tax Cuts Dismissed

But according to the Empire Center, a non-profit group based in Albany, the overall impact of the Trump tax cuts actually benefited most state residents. Read More

NYS Healthcare Costs Rise Amid Report Of Pay-To-Play Allegations

Earlier this year, another fiscal watchdog group,  The Empire Center, found that  Cuomo’s budget office had delayed a $1.7 billion Medicaid payment from the previous fiscal year into the current fiscal year. Because of the delay, the governor was able to keep within a self imposed 2% yearly spending cap. Read More

After Hospitals’ Donation to New York Democrats, a $140 Million Payout

“It’s everything that’s wrong with Albany in one ugly deal,” said Bill Hammond, a health policy expert at the nonpartisan Empire Center who first noticed the budgetary trick. “The governor was able to unilaterally direct a billion dollars to a major interest group while secretly accepting its campaign cash and papering over a massive deficit in the Medicaid program.” Read More

It’s never simple arithmetic with schools

Earlier this week, the Empire Center did its own report on the plummeting numbers when it comes to students. Overall, the 2019-20 enrollment is at its lowest levels in New York state in the last 30 years. Read More

What Cuomo’s executive order on vaping will and won’t do

“If you have these really young kids and teens getting hooked, then that’s not good," said Bill Hammond, director of health policy at the Empire Center for Public Policy. "But the first step would be to do some research, have a public hearing, get the best expert evidence that you have. Instead of reacting to headlines, find out what’s really going on and proceed with proposed regulations.” Read More