Over the past few months, you may have heard about Governor Cuomo’s property tax freeze plan. While I don’t dispute that property taxes continue to be a major problem in upstate New York, I believe the governor’s proposal is disingenuous and will not lead to any significant property tax savings for New Yorkers.
The savings from Gov. Cuomo’s property tax freeze plan would be negligible, full of caveats for localities such as forced consolidation, which if not accomplished will have negative financial implications for counties and communities.
Additionally, it does not address the largest cost driver for our local governments—unfunded mandates.
I cannot express how important it is to give our local governments meaningful mandate relief to achieve lasting and significant property tax relief.
Unfunded mandates are programs and policies that legislators in Albany want to enact but don’t want to pay for, so they pass on the responsibility and the bill to our local governments.
For decades, unfunded mandates were overused and abused by Albany, leading to the rapid, unsustainable growth of property taxes in the state.
The New York State Assoc-iation of Counties identified that just nine mandates consume 90 percent of the local property tax levy.
Mind you, there are hundreds more mandates on top of those nine.
If so much of the local income is predetermined by programs that may be unwanted and unneeded, there’s not much left to pay for local spending needs or property tax relief.
Moreover, important decisions on local budget priorities are being taken out of local hands.
I am not sure if you have seen them, but the governor is running television ads advocating for the tax freeze.
The ads almost vilify our local governments. This problem started in Albany, and it’s patently unfair of the governor to put so much pressure on our localities without addressing unfunded mandates in a meaningful way.
The governor is setting local governments up for failure and in turn, punishing property taxpayers by hindering real and lasting tax relief.
We need the governor to open his eyes and address the problem—unfunded mandates.
Your input is valuable. If you have questions or comments about property tax relief or any other state matter, please contact my Herkimer office at 315-866-1632, or email me at
butlerm@assembly.state.ny.us.