Do you support a property tax cap?
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- July
- 22
I was surprised to see that 75 percent of school board members statewide would support a tax cap if the state picked up the costs of certain nondiscretionary items, according to a recent poll conducted by the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA).
The reason I was surprised was because so many local trustees and school officials had railed against the idea of a tax cap when the state started floating the idea.
So you know, the “nondiscretionary items” they were talking about were those pesky little costs related to things such as pension contributions, health insurance, transportation, special education and energy.
The results are based on 430 respondents to an informal “pulse poll” conducted via e-mail with school board members earlier this month.
What do you think?
Read on for more information and poll responses from the NYSSBA.
An overwhelming 75 percent of school board members would support a tax cap if the state picked up a percentage of the costs of nondiscretionary items such as pension contributions, health insurance, transportation, special education and energy, according to a recent “pulse poll” conducted by the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA).
Still, when asked if they prefer a property tax cap or a circuit breaker (which caps individual property taxes at a percentage of a homeowner’s income), 50 percent of school board members chose the circuit breaker, while only 19 percent supported a tax cap. About a third of respondents (31 percent) supported neither proposal.
“School board members are caught in a Catch-22 situation. While they want to curtail rising property taxes, their school districts face escalating costs that are largely beyond their control,” said NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer. “Budget-busting, nondiscretionary costs such as energy, pensions and health care contributions have soared well beyond the rate of inflation. If state lawmakers cap the ability of school districts to raise funds needed to meet these obligations, it would more than likely result in cuts to educational programs.”
Earlier this year, a study conducted by NYSSBA found that from the 2001-02 school year through 2005-06, expenses in five nondiscretionary areas — employee pensions, health care premiums, special education, transportation, and operations and maintenance — rose by a whopping $5.7 billion, or 47 percent statewide, from $12.1 billion to $17.8 billion.
When asked if they would support a tax cap if local school district costs in these areas were also capped at 4 percent (or 120 percent of the Consumer Price Index) and the state picked up costs above that cap, 75 percent of board members said they would support a cap, 15 percent would oppose and 10 percent were undecided.
The results are based on 430 respondents to an informal “pulse poll” conducted via e-mail with school board members earlier this month.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 am by Diana Costello.
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Diana,
I’m a school board member that would support a property tax cap—so long as the state legislature eliminated a whole host of unfunded mandates. I would never support any kind of cap—unless the mandates were eliminated concurrently—i.e., not prospectively. The problem is in part that no one in Albany wants to take on the NYSUT or other unions directly. The cap is an indirect way to attempt to force reforms through the collective bargaining process and the public employee health and retirement structures in place. Our pols don’t have the guts to deal with these issues head on—so they target the amorphous “property tax”. Demographic trends all over the state are pointing to the end of the property tax as the sole source of school funding. I believe that if Albany dealt forthrightly with the mandates—that there would be no real need for a cap. It would occur naturally.
Thanks so much for the input, David. Very helpful.