NYACK – Governor Andrew Cuomo came to Nyack on Wednesday to call on the state legislature to extend the two percent property tax cap before they adjourn this month.
The cap has succeeded in “taming out-of-control property tax increases throughout this state and it must be extended to ensure property taxpayers continue to be protected from the crushing burden of skyrocketing tax increases,” the governor said.
Nyack Mayor Jennifer White is one who strongly supports the tax cap.
“For the first time we committed to doing what we all do at home, living within a budget,” White said. “We committed to not balancing our books on the backs of tired taxpayers, but going one step further for them and figuring out how to trim governmental fat, too much overtime, and focus our spending on needs, not wants, to come up with long-term plans for expensive purchases and a way for saving for infrastructure repairs and retirement funds.”
The governor said through the first three years of the cap, the typical property taxpayer has saved over $800, compared to if taxes had continued to grow at the previous growth rate. He said if the trend continues, by 2016, the typical taxpayer will have saved more than $2,100 in local property taxes.
In the Mid-Hudson Valley, the 10-year average annual growth rate from 2000 to 2010 was 6.2 percent. The average of proposed growth in the first three years of the tax cap was 2.3 percent.
Cuomo said the estimated cumulative savings over three years was $1,203 in Dutchess County, $1,380 in Orange; $1,811 in Putnam; $2,042 in Rockland; $900 in Sullivan and $1,039 in Ulster.
Over a five-year period, the estimated savings would be $3,184 in Dutchess; $3,650 in Orange; $4,790 in Putnam; $5,402 in Rockland; $2,381 in Sullivan; and $2,749 in Ulster County.
Ulster County Courthouse encased in scaffolding
May 19, 2024
