Tag: Property Tax

The real solution, of course, is cutting state mandates and local spending. But that's too difficult. So we get phony solutions instead. Read More

In a resounding win for Governor Andrew Cuomo and for property owners across New York, a state Supreme Court justice in Albany has dismissed a teachers' union lawsuit that sought to invalidate New York State's property tax cap on constitutional grounds. Read More

Public employee unions, naturally, are staunch defenders of the old-fashioned defined benefit plans. But as E.J. McMahon noted in 2012 testimony before a joint legislative fiscal committee: "The current public pension system in New York, as in most other states, exposes taxpayers to intolerable levels of financial risk and volatility." Read More

The state's general pension fund was recently valued at a record $180.7 billion. Some, though, cautioned about future costs. "The state pension system remains a ticking time bomb," the Empire Center's E.J. McMahon wrote in his group's blog, NY Torch. Read More

The property tax cap for New York counties, towns and villages with fiscal years starting January 1, 2015 will start at 1.56 percent, slightly lower than last year's starting rate of 1.66 percent. The cap in each locality will vary based on the amount of applicable allowable exclusions for growth in local property values. Localities also will be able to exclude the amount by which the change in pension contributions exceeds two percentage points Read More

Twenty-four school districts sought to override the state’s property tax levy cap in yesterday’s school budget votes. Nine districts, or 38 percent of those attempting, failed to garner the 60 percent supermajority vote needed to pass an override. The vast majority of school districts held their proposed tax levies below the statewide average of about 2.1 percent, including allowances for voter-approved capital spending, property taxes generated by new construction, and other factors. On a per-pupil basis, as detailed in the Empire Center’s annual School Budget Spotlight, the average proposed tax levy hike came to 2.6 percent. Spending growth in proposed budgets was 3.2 percent per pupil, one and a half times the inflation rate. Read More

Average per-pupil spending under proposed 2014-15 school budgets will increase by 3.2 percent, more than one-and-a-half times the 1.9 percent projected inflation rate, according to analysis issued today by the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More

When Rob Astorino launched his campaign for governor in March, he made a bold statement: His county had cut its tax levy "more than any other county in the state." Read More