Politics on the Hudson

Despite the state’s fiscal woes, Senate Republicans offered a plan today to try to curb the state’s high property-tax burden.

But the plan was quickly met with questions over how Republicans would pay for the $2.6 billion proposal amid a $9 billion budget deficit for the 2010-11 fiscal year and the likelihood of cuts to programs and services.

Republicans, who are seeking in November to win back control of the chamber after losing it in 2008, said their proposal needs to be a priority during budget negotiations.

They want to resurrect many of the tax-relief programs that have been proposed for years at the state Capitol, from restoring a tax-rebate check for homeowners to linking property taxes to household incomes.

They also want to limit mandates on schools to go along with a school-property-tax cap, which Senate Republicans passed when they were in the majority in 2008. The tax cap, which was backed by Gov. David Paterson, was not approved in the Democratic-controlled Assembly.

Senate Republicans said their tax-relief plan would be paid for through savings from the tax cap, which if enacted last year would have saved the state about $6.4 billion.

Senate Democrats said Republicans are offering a plan without a clear way to pay for it. Democrats hold a 31-30 seat majority, with one vacancy.

“They have to pay for it,” said Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn. “What they tend to fail to realize is that this is a mess that we did not create.”

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