Assemblywoman Galef Announces Results of
Constituent Survey on Ways to Rein in Property Taxes
88 percent favored a tax cap

Assemblywoman Sandy Galef released the results of a constituent survey she conducted on property tax relief in the 90th NYS Assembly District. They were overwhelmingly in favor of change, with the vast majority supporting a property tax cap.

Following a seminar she held at Putnam Valley High School in June 2008 with Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, Chairman of the NYS Commission on Property Tax Relief, she sent out a newsletter explaining some of the information about the Commission's report, and asked constituents to weigh in with their opinions. Galef posed questions about a tax cap, local overrides to a cap, mandate relief and circuit breaker legislation.

"Many people said they felt that a tax cap would not be enough because it could only cap costs going forward," said Galef. "We really need to approach this from both sides. It is critical that we look at ways to cut back on escalating costs as well as cap what we already pay. I have been focusing my attention on ways schools and municipalities can share services or consolidate areas of least impact. The Suozzi Commission's latest report has some compelling recommendations, including working on mandate relief for school districts. We are all in this bad economy together. We need to take advantage of a bad situation to proactively overhaul our systems so that we can achieve good results."

Over 500 respondents answered the questions as follows:


Question
Yes
No
Are you in favor of a property tax cap?
88%
12%
If you favor a cap, do you think 4% or 120% of the Consumer Price Index (the lesser of the two) is reasonable?
62%

38%

The report calls for any school district that wants to exceed the cap to get approval by at least 55 percent of the voters and by 60 percent if the school district received a 5% or greater boost in state aid. Do you think this is reasonable?
70%



30%



Do you think a tax cap should be passed as its own legislation?
76%
24%
If not, would you support a cap in conjunction with a guarantee that school costs and state mandates for schools would be covered by state aid?
68%

32%

If you believe state aid is necessary to keep schools strong, would you be willing to have your income tax raised to support the aid?
32%

68%

Would you support circuit breaker relief in the form of a personal income tax credit against real property taxes paid in excess of a percentage of income?
64%
36%
If "yes" would you support replacing the current Middle Income STAR Rebate check with the new Circuit Breaker and use the state money that currently funds this STAR program to pay for the Circuit Breaker?

44%



56%




One constituent from Putnam Valley said "We need [tax] cap and [circuit] breaker, one without the other is no good." Another constituent noted, "The cap will only work if the state pays for unfunded mandates and reforms the way teacher pensions are paid for…"

Galef will host a follow-up forum with Mr. Suozzi, Thursday, January 22nd from 7-9 pm at Croton Village Hall. For more information, contact the Assemblywoman at (914) 941-1111 or galefs@assembly.state.ny.us.

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