New York State suffers from some of the highest property taxes in the country. It is my goal to make property taxes more equitable for my constituents, and for the state as a whole. To that end, I have introduced legislation to lessen the property tax burden placed on New Yorkers. I have hosted and will continue to organize forums on property tax relief. I also initiated a Shared Services Task Force with community members from my Assembly District to find ways for local municipalities, counties and school districts to share and consolidate services and equipment.
For many years now I have introduced other bills to address the exorbitant property tax rates in New York State. My circuit breaker bill (A.877) would control property taxes by establishing maximum residential real property taxes in relation to personal income.
In the 2011 legislative session, I worked alongside Governor Cuomo to help pass a new law (Chapter 97 of 2011) that capped the property taxes to help provide relief to residents of my district. The signing of this law means that the property tax levy may only increase by a maximum of two percent per year or by the rate of inflation, whichever percentage is lower. The levy may only exceed the cap if two thirds of the local government officials or 60% of the school voters vote to exceed that percentage. This was an act that was overwhelmingly supported by my constituents. Those surveyed on their opinion of this matter responded very favorably. Over the past few years I have worked very hard for legislation such as this, along with former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, including hosting multiple forums on this issue.
In the spring of 2009 I established the Shared Services Task Force of the 90th Assembly District with a wide variety of constituents from all across my district. The group is made up of private residents, municipal officials, school district trustees, and other members of our community. They are all interested in learning from one another about grassroots efforts they can take to streamline and/or consolidate functions and departments in municipalities as well as school districts. Throughout the year I bring in experts to discuss ways that services can be shared, in order to educate the task force and the public on how we can solve the issues that cause high property taxes. I know that many people in my district are not happy about the taxes they pay or how their services are delivered, and there are wasteful practices in government that can be modified to improve this situation. My hope is that members of my task force will be empowered to bring the ideas for change which they learn about at my forums back to their own local governments and school districts with the goal of implementing them to help lower the tax burdens many of us now face, and hopefully make government operations more efficient and effective.
If you are interested in joining the Shared Services Task Force of the 90th Assembly District, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can always call my office at (914) 941-1111 or send me an e-mail to galefs@assembly.state.ny.us.