SARATOGA SPRINGS - Democratic candidate for governor Eliot Spitzer on Monday proposed a $6 billion property tax cut over three years funded by $11 billion in budget cuts and savings over that same time.

Spitzer would provide $1.5 billion in property tax relief next year, $2 billion in 2008 and $2.5 billion in 2009, all targeted at middle class families.

His opponents, Republican John Faso and Democrat Tom Suozzi, also have multibillion tax cut proposals spread over several years. Each plan contains elements that have been proposed previously, some pushed by Republican Gov. George Pataki, that haven't made it through the Legislature.

On Monday, Spitzer and Faso told a meeting of the New York Conference of Mayors that the exodus of young New Yorkers to opportunities in other states, coupled with the nation's highest taxes, will force action when the next governor takes office.

Spitzer's tax cuts would come through an increase of the STAR school property tax relief program.

Families at or below the typical median state income of about $60,000 a year (higher for wealthier areas) would see up to an 80 percent increase. That increased benefit would taper off until the household income is twice the median income, or about $120,000.

Homeowners with incomes above twice the median income would still get a 30 percent increase in the benefit.

Seniors who already qualify for the enhanced STAR benefit would also get a 30 percent increase.

The maximum income allowed to receive the “enhanced STAR” benefit is $68,700. Enhanced STAR recipients are seniors on fixed incomes and they would still have the biggest STAR benefit under Spitzer's proposal.

Only New Yorkers earning in the upper 2 percent of income - over $235,000 a year - would see no additional benefit.

“I believe those middle class New Yorkers, who bear the brunt of soaring property taxes and have the least ability to pay them, should be the top priority,” Spitzer said. “This plan not only provides meaningful and immediate tax relief, it also outlines a detailed plan to fully fund this tax cut without putting the state's fiscal position at risk and without simply substituting one tax for another.”

Spitzer said he would cut more than $11 billion from the state budget over the next three years. His proposals include “leading by example” and refusing to accept $50 million of the $300 million in annual pork-barrel spending now split between the governor, Senate and Assembly for local projects outside the budget review process.

Spitzer's list of the 26 steps he would take also includes:

� Reducing the use of consultants and relying more on the state work force.

� Consolidating similar but separate programs.

� Reducing waste and fraud in the Medicaid program for the poor.

� Reducing waste in the state's many public authorities.

� Recovering $300 million in tax revenue corporations evade through loopholes.

� Boosting revenue $180 million in the first year by expanding the bottle bill to include non-carbonated drinks and a provision for the state to keep unclaimed deposits.

“This is not smoke and mirrors ... merely to result in a tax increase elsewhere,” Spitzer said.

“A lot of them are smoke and mirrors,” Faso countered after his speech to the local government group.

Faso, the Republican-Conservative candidate, said Spitzer's plan to cut school property taxes is fatally flawed: “If you don't have a cap (on local school spending), it's like building a car with an accelerator and no brake.”

Faso wants school spending capped so the STAR program doesn't encourage schools to increase spending without being fully accountable to local taxpayers because of the state subsidy. Faso said capping school spending at 4 percent or the rate of inflation - whichever is less - would save taxpayers $18 billion over six or seven years. Schools increased spending at a rate twice that of inflation last fall despite a record increase in state aid of about $1.3 billion. Faso's plan would allow voters to authorize more spending.

Faso's proposal would cut school property taxes by $6.8 billion over four years by doubling STAR tax relief. But Faso's plan would be paid for in part by reforming rich, unbreakable public worker and teacher contracts and health plans that include little payments by the workers. He also would end or reform the state's Wick's Law, a pro-union law that requires several contracts on public jobs, which Faso said increases construction costs by as much as 30 percent.

These are reforms that he said Spitzer, who is endorsed by teachers and public worker unions, won't pursue.

“Eliot Spitzer today made it very plain: He's not prepared to take on the special interests.”

“Everything is on the table,” Spitzer said.

Spitzer said he will also address the issues Faso wants to take on, including whether to cap local spending, the Wick's law and other laws and mandates. But Spitzer said he will detail them at his next installment of about a dozen platform speeches.

Suozzi, who has made cutting property taxes central to his campaign, said Spitzer “cobbled together” elements of Suozzi's $2.15 billion property tax cut proposal. Suozzi said Spitzer's savings estimates don't begin to cover the proposed tax break or the multibillion dollar plans Spitzer has announced to increase school aid, provide health insurance to uninsured New Yorkers and provide broadband Internet services statewide, among others.

“It is perhaps another example of Spitzer's 'Albany Math,' “ Suozzi said. He is scheduled to speak to the New York Conference of Mayors on Tuesday. He said he will soon offer a more detailed critique.

Spitzer is the two-term attorney general whose investigations forced reforms on Wall Street and in corporate boardrooms. He faces Faso, the former state Assembly minority leader; and Suozzi, the former Glen Cove mayor and second-term Nassau County executive.

Their plans are detailed on their Web sites.