Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been touting his plan to make the property tax cap permanent, saying during a stop in the Rochester area last week that it was the smartest thing the state has done when it comes to tax policy.
Sherry Johnson, executive director of the Monroe County School Boards Association, said her group opposes the plan as it currently stands. They were in Albany this week to talk with lawmakers about the proposal. She said the current plan ties the cap to the volatile Consumer Price Index.
“It makes it very difficult for the school district to be able to come up with long-term budget plans that will help stabilize where that revenue is, and what they can ask for the taxpayers,” she said.
Johnson said on top of that, districts can only override the cap through a 60 percent supermajority vote, and taxpayers in those districts that vote to override don't get their STAR property tax credit.
“They do get penalized for the supermajority, and that's the point," she said.
Johnson said the School Boards Association is calling on lawmakers to put some flexibility in the tax cap that will help districts. She said if the cap has to be 2 percent, keep it at that level and don't base it on the Consumer Price Index, which fluctuates based on inflation.
She said the tax cap must be structured in a way to allow districts to develop budgets that don’t cut programs or use up reserves.
Cuomo has said he won't sign a budget that doesn't include the permanent property tax cap.