Senate Passes School Property Tax Cap
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- August
- 8
The state Senate just passed its school-property-tax proposal, which includes a series of mandate relief proposals.
The vote was 38-20, with several upstate Democratic senators breaking rank and voting with the majority. They included some Democrats facing tough re-elections, including Sens. Darrel Aubertine and William Stachowski.
Senate Democrats tried to push for their own amendments to the cap, which would have excluded special education and transportation costs from the cap. Yet the motions failed, and even Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith voted with the Republicans on the final bill.
The Republicans’ approval means they will able to head home to their districts and say they tried to do something on the biggest issue facing voters: high property taxes. And that is a critical issue as Republicans cling to a 31-29 edge in the Senate (It will back up to two seats today after the Senate confirms Democratic Sen. John Sabini, of Queens, to head the Racing and Wagering Board.)
Of course, Assembly Democrats have no plans to return to Albany to pass the legislation as they have voiced concerns that a cap would hinder education to schools.
The package of property-tax relief measures passed by the Senate includes Gov. Paterson’s plan to put a 4 percent cap on the growth in school taxes, as well as a host of mandate relief measures for schools.
This entry was posted
on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 3:13 pm by Joseph Spector.
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It is time for the assembly to pass this bill. If they don’t. It will mean some of the democrat incumbants will loose in november. It was a nice ride while you had it. It is time to listen to the people.