Spitzer Pushes Property Tax Cut, School Reform

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer pushed a $6 billion property tax cut aimed at middle class families and aid to subsidize revenue-drained municipalities and school districts that impose those taxes, The Associated Press reported.

The tax break announced Tuesday, expanding the state's STAR school tax subsidy program, would result in a typical savings for an average middle class taxpayer of $763 in Suffolk County, $558 in Onondaga County, $421 in Erie County and $497 in Albany County, Spitzer said, the AP reported. The tax breaks would decrease for upstate households making $60,000 a year or above and for downstate households making more than $80,000.

"Soaring property taxes are devastating to our state's families and our economy as well," Spitzer told the New York State Association of Counties, according to the AP. "In the past five years, real property taxes have increased 32 percent -- fully three and a half times faster than wages have increased."

Spitzer called for a $1.5 billion subsidy for property tax relief in the fiscal year beginning April 1, $2 billion in 2008-09 and $2.5 billion in 2009-10, the AP reported.

Spitzer said state government for more than a decade has forced more "unfunded mandates" on local governments and school districts that have in turn forced higher taxes on their residents. Spitzer also called for changes in state mandates on local governments and schools that drive up operating costs and the cost of construction, the AP reported.

Laying out an expansive education agenda in a speech on Monday at the State Education Department, Spitzer said he was proposing “the largest infusion of resources in our state’s history” but left a specific number for Wednesday, when he is to unveil his budget, the paper reported. Officials who have been briefed on the governor’s plans said he would propose $1.4 billion in added education spending statewide for the coming fiscal year, increasing to $7 billion in added annual spending after four years, The New York Times reported..

The largest share of that $7 billion -- about $3.1 billion -- would go to New York City. Combined with $2.2 billion in added city education spending over the next four years proposed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, city schools ultimately stand to gain $5.3 billion a year, the paper reported

Spitzer’s plans for accountability measures will require the support of the Board of Regents, which sets state education policy, and the cooperation of local school districts. Under the proposal, districts that receive significant amounts of new money will have to sign performance contracts promising clear progress in raising student achievement, high school graduation rates and the number of students who attend college, the paper reported.

The governor said he would seek new powers for the Education Department, including the ability to require districts to dismiss superintendents “after substantial failure over multiple years” and even to remove entire school boards that “fail their communities year after year.” Currently, the state must get legislative approval to take over a failing district, and local officials can be removed only for misconduct, not for academic failure, the paper reported.

He said that principals and superintendents would be graded on new “school leadership report cards” and that the state should be prepared to close many more failing schools -- as many as 5 percent of all schools statewide -- using its existing authority, the paper reported.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 1/30/07