An editorial in the Jamestown Post-Journal points to the analysis done by the State Comptroller’s office on how local governments and school districts are dealing the 2% tax cap as they put their budgets together.

“More than 70 percent of local governments reviewed by auditors had adopted budgets with a property tax levy that was within the allowable limit, while 5 percent exceeded the cap inappropriately, according to an analysis by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office.

In the last few weeks DiNapoli sent more than 200 auditors across the state to review the new budgets of 798 municipalities.

“My auditors will be visiting the municipalities that exceeded their tax cap improperly to make sure they have taken corrective action and reduced their tax bills or put any excess property tax revenue into a reserve as required by the law,” DiNapoli said. “Our review assisted local governments by providing insight into common issues and errors calculating the new tax cap, and I have directed my staff to develop additional training and expand our outreach to eliminate these errors.”

To read more click here.

The following appeared in the Dunkirk Observer - “Groups representing a number of different sectors have banded together in New York state with a common agenda: making our state more competitive through fewer mandates.

Some of the organizations represented in the newly formed Let NY Work coalition include the New York State School Boards Association, the Business Council of New York State, the state Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials, Unshackle Upstate and the Farm Bureau. “It’s a rainbow coalition that has gotten the attention of a lot of people,” said Timothy G. Kremer, New York State School Boards Association president.

Let NY Work has an agenda that includes:

Making the pension system predictable and affordable.

Redefining compulsory arbitration, which includes defining the ability to pay.

Reducing the cost of construction on public and private projects.

Freezing step increases when contracts expire, which currently does not happen courtesy of the Triborough Amendment.

Establishing minimum health insurance contribution levels for employees and retirees.

To read more click here.

Governor Cuomo released Building a New New York, a one-year progress report chronicling the strides the state has made in 2011. According to the report:

“In the 12 months since his inauguration, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has
transformed Albany and made government work once again for the people. Passing a balanced, on-time budget, capping property taxes, driving innovative regional economic development, and enacting historic, fair tax rates, Governor Cuomo has restored New York’s position as a leader among states, restored confidence in state government, and put New York back on a path to job creation and economic growth.

From his first day in office to the close of this year’s extraordinary session of the State Legislature, Governor Cuomo worked closely with legislators and leaders from across the state to move New York forward. Through leadership and cooperation, they showed that progress is achieved when New Yorkers put aside their differences and come together.”

To view the full report click here.

Aaron Scholder and Jon Campbell of Gannett News write:

“The New Year will bring a number of new laws to New York, with a series of measures set to take effect as soon as the ball drops on 2012.

The new laws include big-ticket items passed during the regular 2011 legislative session, such as a 2 percent property-tax cap on local governments and school districts, a measure that was a centerpiece of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign and first year in office.

Also included are many of the provisions in a December deal between the Legislature and Cuomo that overhauled the state’s income tax brackets and partially repealed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority payroll tax.

“These new laws that take effect January … came about because we ended gridlock and partisanship, and worked with the governor to make Albany function again,” Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, said in a statement.

Other laws didn’t receive the same attention. As of Jan. 1, minors will no longer be able to purchase hookahs or water pipes, and all drivers will be required to change lanes if they’re approaching a hazard vehicle on the side of the road.”

To read more click here.

Casey Seiler of the Times Union writes:

“The day before New Yorkers head to the polls to elect local officials, Gov. Andrew Cuomo released an eight-minute video making the case that the newly imposed tax cap is beginning to have its intended effect on the thousands of taxing entities across the state, rolling back the average rate of increase and bringing “much-needed scrutiny to government spending.”

“Local property taxes are simply out of control,” Cuomo said, ticking off the list of New York counties that are on the list of the nation’s highest property taxes — with Nassau, Westchester and Rockland all in the top five.

The cap, signed into law over the summer, limits annual tax increases to 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less, with exceptions for a percentage of pension cost increases and growth-related costs. An increase above the cap requires a 60 percent vote of the community or its governing board.”

To read more click here.

To visit Cuomo’s Cap NY Property Taxes: A Citizen’s Guide website, click here.

All Governmental Funds tax collections for the first half of state fiscal year 2011–12 rose 12.6 percent from the same period last year, but were $391.9 million less than updated Financial Plan projections, according to the September 2011 Cash Report released Wednesday by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Year–to–date growth of 18.3 percent in General Fund Personal Income Tax collections largely reflects robust estimated tax settlements based on 2010 earnings and does not necessarily reflect current economic conditions.

Eric Kriss reports in the New York Post - “Taxed-out New Yorkers are voting with their feet, with a staggering 1.6 million residents fleeing the state over the last decade, a new report found.

That’s as if the entire populations of Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, White Plains and West Babylon combined had packed up and left.
For the second consecutive decade, New York led the nation in the percentage of residents leaving for other states, according to the report by the Empire Center for State Policy…

Gov. Cuomo has tried to tackle the root causes of the population decline, particularly upstate, which has been hit the hardest.
In fact, the state’s big-business lobby said the report revealed a “tale of two states.”

“Domestic out-migration is predominantly upstate,” said Ken Pokalsky, senior director of government affairs for The Business Council of New York State. Economically, “Upstate’s been flat and falling,” he said.

A spokesman for Cuomo said the new administration is attempting to reverse the decades-long flight problem.

To read more click here.

Robert Harding writes on auburnpub.com - “Polls and pundits agree: This year’s New York state legislative session was successful.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, in an interview with me this week, agreed. He called the session “historic” and pointed to the on-time passage of the state budget as a major achievement.

But Skelos also discussed other issues, including other legislative achievements, his relationship with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, prison closures and what issues the Senate will tackle in the months ahead and the 2012 legislative session.

Skelos said passage of a property tax cap was an important step and something Senate Republicans have long supported. He also listed mandate relief and SUNY 2020 as achievements, to name a few.

To read more click here.

The following excerpt is from an editorial in the Daily Freeman:

“Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vetoed a bill that would have given New York school districts relief from the 2 percent property tax cap that takes effect next year.

The measure would have allowed districts to borrow — without voter approval — to make payments into the state’s school pension system.

Just as sure as that tax cap is going to create a world of hurt for schools and other jurisdictions that depend on property taxes, the veto was the right thing to do.

The tax cap is exactly the kind of bludgeon New Yorkers need to begin the process of rethinking and reshaping a patchwork of government that spends and taxes too much.

Having agreed to that property tax cap, state legislators should have had the courage of their convictions and stood by it.

Instead, the Senate and Assembly passed the ill-considered pension legislation with little debate.

The bill would have allowed districts to raise taxes — or impose new austerities — on future generations of taxpayers by spreading pension contributions over 15 years.

In effect, this would have given districts a near-term escape hatch, deferring to a later date the impact of today’s obligations.

Did anyone except the beneficiaries of school district salaries and benefits think this was a good idea?

Cuomo, quite sensibly, has said the districts must begin to live within their means, just as New York families must do.”

For the rest of the editorial click here.

A Siena Poll finds that 68 percent of voters– over two-thirds– say the property tax law moves New York in the right direction.

To read more click here.