ALBANY - A proposed property tax cap supported by Gov. David Paterson, his expert tax-relief commission, and 72 percent of New Yorkers isn't likely to even reach the floor of the Legislature this session.
Powerful labor unions joined New York's teachers' unions lobbying lawmakers Tuesday to kill the proposal, which would limit the growth of local property taxes to about 4 percent a year.
School officials, education advocates and union leaders argued the cap would hurt classroom instruction and slow some recent progress improving student performance.
They said a limit would be especially difficult in a time of rising costs for fuel, health care and pension costs.
But Paterson's commission found 71 percent of a district's budget goes to salaries and benefits, mostly for unionized workers, and that despite record state aid - nearly $1.8 billion this year alone - property taxes continue to rise.
They are now the country's highest at 79 percent above the national average.
Lawmakers facing an election year have little interest in crossing Albany's powerful labor groups, which spend millions of dollars a year in campaign contributions, political support and lobbying. And neither Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno nor Sheldon Silver, the Democratic speaker in the Assembly, has supported Paterson's plan.
“We agree that something has to be done,” said David Albert of the state School Boards Association, which opposed the measure Tuesday. “We have to be responsible to the electorate, but at the same time, we have to make sure we provide a sound education.”
“People are willing to pay more in taxes for good quality schools,” he said.
The association estimates 75 percent of the cost of local and state school funding goes to salaries and benefits. The association's 2007-08 survey of most districts finds the typical mid-career teacher, with a master's degree and 10 years experience, is paid an average of $55,670. The average superintendent in the state makes $158,883.
Teachers' salaries are rising about 4 percent a year, according to the association's annual survey. And most districts now require employees to contribute to their health insurance coverage, Albert said.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said New York's mean annual wage for a high school teacher is $64,020, tops among all states.
When asked Tuesday about the proposed limit, Bruno listed several other measures he supports ahead of a cap. But none of those have much of a chance in the Assembly under Silver, who is also not supporting Paterson's proposal.
Paterson's bill, released last week, hasn't even been introduced into the session, which ends June 23.
“It might not be introduced,” said NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin. “It's not having a lot of success at this point.”
But Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who headed Paterson's property tax committee, was still meeting with lawmakers Tuesday. He said that after years of rising taxes, the time for a cap is now because it has the backing of a thorough report, the governor and angry taxpayers. He noted a Siena College poll in January that found 72 percent of New Yorkers supported a property tax cap.
“This is something that voters are very angry about,” Suozzi said, noting that property taxes are driving away employers and young New Yorkers. He said the decade-old STAR program, which has grown to provide $5 billion in state subsidies annually to school districts, has resulted only in continued tax growth and spending beyond inflation. When it was created, the Legislature beat back Gov. George Pataki's attempt to include a tax cap.
But on Tuesday, Suozzi was alone following the appearances by NYSUT, the school boards association, the state Parent Teachers Associations, other school, labor and the political groups with which they have long been allied. The groups want measures other than a cap, including more state funding and a “circuit breaker” that would direct more taxpayer relief to the neediest taxpayers under established programs, including STAR.
“I think that the people who are lining up against the property tax cap are people who have grown accustomed to the status quo,” Suozzi said. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”
School officials, education advocates and union leaders argued the cap would hurt classroom instruction and slow some recent progress improving student performance.
They said a limit would be especially difficult in a time of rising costs for fuel, health care and pension costs.
But Paterson's commission found 71 percent of a district's budget goes to salaries and benefits, mostly for unionized workers, and that despite record state aid - nearly $1.8 billion this year alone - property taxes continue to rise.
They are now the country's highest at 79 percent above the national average.
Lawmakers facing an election year have little interest in crossing Albany's powerful labor groups, which spend millions of dollars a year in campaign contributions, political support and lobbying. And neither Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno nor Sheldon Silver, the Democratic speaker in the Assembly, has supported Paterson's plan.
“We agree that something has to be done,” said David Albert of the state School Boards Association, which opposed the measure Tuesday. “We have to be responsible to the electorate, but at the same time, we have to make sure we provide a sound education.”
“People are willing to pay more in taxes for good quality schools,” he said.
The association estimates 75 percent of the cost of local and state school funding goes to salaries and benefits. The association's 2007-08 survey of most districts finds the typical mid-career teacher, with a master's degree and 10 years experience, is paid an average of $55,670. The average superintendent in the state makes $158,883.
Teachers' salaries are rising about 4 percent a year, according to the association's annual survey. And most districts now require employees to contribute to their health insurance coverage, Albert said.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said New York's mean annual wage for a high school teacher is $64,020, tops among all states.
When asked Tuesday about the proposed limit, Bruno listed several other measures he supports ahead of a cap. But none of those have much of a chance in the Assembly under Silver, who is also not supporting Paterson's proposal.
Paterson's bill, released last week, hasn't even been introduced into the session, which ends June 23.
“It might not be introduced,” said NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin. “It's not having a lot of success at this point.”
But Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who headed Paterson's property tax committee, was still meeting with lawmakers Tuesday. He said that after years of rising taxes, the time for a cap is now because it has the backing of a thorough report, the governor and angry taxpayers. He noted a Siena College poll in January that found 72 percent of New Yorkers supported a property tax cap.
“This is something that voters are very angry about,” Suozzi said, noting that property taxes are driving away employers and young New Yorkers. He said the decade-old STAR program, which has grown to provide $5 billion in state subsidies annually to school districts, has resulted only in continued tax growth and spending beyond inflation. When it was created, the Legislature beat back Gov. George Pataki's attempt to include a tax cap.
But on Tuesday, Suozzi was alone following the appearances by NYSUT, the school boards association, the state Parent Teachers Associations, other school, labor and the political groups with which they have long been allied. The groups want measures other than a cap, including more state funding and a “circuit breaker” that would direct more taxpayer relief to the neediest taxpayers under established programs, including STAR.
“I think that the people who are lining up against the property tax cap are people who have grown accustomed to the status quo,” Suozzi said. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”
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The taxpayer watchblog wrote on Jun 11, 2008 3:10 PM:
We are living in an upside down world. I am incensed that the governor accepted a cap as high as 4% and the unions are fighting even that nugget of what I'll refer to as(non-relief)?
Who the heck can afford 4% more taxes and spending and the lobbyists are trying to stand in the way of that.
Do not allow this to happen.
Talk to your elected officials and ask them who is more important, the lobbyists or their constituents that put them in their legislative seat.
And by the way, if you make the wrong choice we'll bounce you out of office on your ear!
To settle the rest of this nonsense, the state should banish these unions completely. If they're not doing something that's illegal by blocking this measure it should be made illegal.
Call the governor and take a stand. Only we can make a difference. "