The state’s property-tax cap has saved New York homeowners as much as $7.6 billion in school taxes since it was enacted in 2011, a report Tuesday contended.

The tax cap has limited the growth in school property taxes to 2.2 percent a year since 2012 compared with the average growth of 6 percent over the prior 30 years, according to the reportfrom the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a fiscally conservative group.

The difference comes to $7.6 billion over the four years — including $3.3 billion for the 2015-16 school year, which starts July 1, the report said. Voters in many districts statewide were at the polls Tuesday to vote on local school budgets.

The report claimed that the tax cap saved homeowners about $490 million in the Finger Lakes region and $287 million in the Southern Tier.

The cap has “really taken the air out of school taxes,” said E.J. McMahon, the group’s president. “The four-year growth under the tax cap, including what is proposed today in school budget votes, is the lowest growth on record.”

The Empire Center and business group are pressing for the tax cap to become permanent. It expires next year, but it has been linked to rent-control laws in New York City that are set to expire this year.

School taxes make up about 60 percent of a homeowner’s annual tax bill, and New York has among the highest property taxes in the nation.

Westchester County often ranks as having the highest property taxes in the U.S., while parts of upstate, including Monroe County, have among the highest taxes compared with home values, the Tax Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based group, has found.

“There’s been nothing better in New York state that has really kept taxes in check, and we want to see it made permanent,” said Greg Biryla, executive director of Unshackle Upstate, a Rochester-based business group.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has championed the tax cap, which he pressed for when he took office in 2011. He and Senate Republicans want to make the cap permanent. But the measure faces uncertainty with Assembly Democrats, who are aligned with unions that have opposed the cap.

Cuomo said Tuesday’s report is more reason to make the cap a permanent law. It’s set to expire June 15, 2016.

“The tax cap has successfully broken the cycle of skyrocketing property tax increases, providing real relief to property taxpayers across the state and reversing New York’s perception as the high tax capital of the world,” Cuomo said in a statement.

The cap allows for tax-levy growth of 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. The cap for the coming fiscal year for schools is 1.62 percent. There are some exemptions to the cap, such as growth in pension costs, that makes the cap different for every school and municipality.

New York’s nearly 700 school districts on Tuesday proposed an average spending increase of 1.9 percent and a tax levy increase of 1.6 percent. Only 18 districts statewide sought to override the property-tax cap.

Education groups want changes to the cap, such as no longer requiring a 60 percent vote for schools to override the cap. They also don’t want to tie the cap to the rate of inflation.

The New York State United Teachers union has unsuccessfully sued to toss the cap, saying it has limited revenue to schools for programs and services.

The cap is “irresponsible,” said NYSUT President Karen Magee. “It’s a way to curb spending, but we are not looking at more efficiencies.”

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, wouldn’t say Tuesday whether Democrats would support a permanent extension of the tax cap — or if it would again be tied to rent laws, which are a top priority for his conference’s city members.

The Assembly on Tuesday passed a series of rent-control bills, which face opposition in the Republican-led Senate.

“We are going to put out for the rest of the session what we feel is important for us as Assembly Democrats, and we’ll go from there,” Heastie told reporters.

The state Association of Counties urged that any extension of the tax cap should be coupled with relief from unfunded state mandates.

“Making the property tax cap permanent without providing mandate relief is not sustainable,” said Stephen Acquario, the group’s executive director.

The tax cap has been popular with voters. A Siena College poll in January showed 70 percent of New Yorkers supported the cap, which applies to all taxing entities in New York, including schools, municipalities and special districts.

Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, R-Suffolk County, introduced legislation Fridayto make the cap permanent.

“Whatever we can do to keep property taxes down, the better off we are as an economy, as a state, and I think it has a ripple effect in so many different ways,” he said at a news conference Tuesday with business groups.

© 2015 Gannett News Service