Assemblymember Cahill Opposes Tax Cap on Public Lands

Cap would harm local taxpayers, watershed and conservation efforts

January 8, 2010

Albany – Assemblymember Kevin Cahill (D – Ulster / Dutchess) sent a letter today urging Governor Paterson not to include a proposal to cap the state's payment of taxes on public lands in his 2010-2011 Executive Budget. Last year, the Governor put forth a similar provision that would have provided a relatively small amount of savings for the state while shifting enormous costs to our already overburdened property taxpayers. Assemblymember Cahill led the fight to defeat the measure.

“A tax cap on state owned lands would be viewed as a breach of faith with communities that are home to large tracts of state owned land. Going ahead with such a proposal would have an unfair and disproportionate impact certain regions of the state, including the Catskills and the Hudson Valley,” said Assemblymember Cahill. “Property taxpayers, school districts and municipalities would all suffer for the State’s failure to pay its fair share.”

In his letter, Assemblymember Cahill warned that any such proposal would undermine protection of the reservoir system that provides water for nine million people. Ninety percent of that water comes from the Catskill/Delaware watershed, which covers 1 million acres west of the Hudson River in Ulster, Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, and Sullivan counties. He also noted that the capping of state tax payments of public lands would seriously harm state land conservation programs in the Catskills by threatening funding and essential local support for the successful initiatives.

“As we saw during the budget debate last year, there is ample evidence a tax payment freeze would undermine local support for open space protection,” said Assemblymember Cahill. “These land acquisitions are crucial to maintaining the integrity of the watershed and the environmental sensibilities that define our region.”

Please click here to view the full text of the letter.

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