Scarsdale Residents Take Tax Cap Issue To Albany

It’s being called a game-changer in New York politics. Governor Andrew Cuomo has worked out a deal with Democrat and Republican state senators to cap property tax growth at 2% throughout the state. The deal still needs to be worked out in the State Assembly. There are many people in Scarsdale, as well as across the state, who say that this is bad for our schools. They took their case to Albany earlier this week.

At a press conference on Wednesday in Albany, Arthur Rublin, Chair of the Coalition for Scarsdale Schools along with Jill Spieler, President Board of Education, resident Miriam Popp Seely, as well as members of Chappaqua, Ossining, Edgemont, Eastchester, Bedford and Mt. Vernon schools laid out why they adamantly opposed this bill.

In a statement the joint coalition calls this proposal “…is a punitive, misguided approach to public concerns about property taxes. Rather than provide meaningful relief from State-imposed spending requirements… this bill continues to obligate school districts to fund top-down requirements while impairing local ability to raise revenue for essential education programs. The Cuomo/Skelos/Silver Tax cap proposal is a direct assault on the quality of your schools, the quality of our communities, our ability to decide how we spend our property tax dollars and on our property values.”

Property taxes are prohibitively high in many towns in New York State with Scarsdale ranking among the highest. Cuomo says the tax cap would offer relief to homeowners who are feeling forced out of their homes due to skyrocketing taxes. Businesses applaud the move as well saying it will provide jobs to the state.

The argument that the coalition made on Wednesday is that a state controlled cap on what can be spent locally is fundamentally wrong. The district already votes up and down its own budget and the state should not mandate how one town spends its monies. This bill has been compared to one in the state of California which has had a chilling effect on its public schools.

The proposal in its current form would require a 60% majority vote in a town to override the tax cap.

The Scarsdale Board of Education issued a paper opposing the bill earlier this year. The Board says that the tax cap takes away local decision making and has the potential to devastate education. The Scarsdale Board of Ed along with many other school boards in Westchester say that the 2% tax cap is barely enough to cover mandates.

“On the face of it, everyone wants lower taxes, but if you look into the mechanism of this bill you can see that this is no easy fix,” explains Nan Berke, President of the Scarsdale High School PTA. “ This would force school boards to make big cuts to curriculum and staff and cut to the quick of what makes Scarsdale schools excellent. This is pennywise and pound foolish.”

From the day in Albany as well as countless phone calls and emails, Rublin says he gets the sense the tax cap legislation may not be a done deal, at least in its current form. One issue that could stop the bill from progressing has nothing to do with schools, but with rent control guidelines.

And even if it passes that hurdle, the coalition is hoping for amendments to the bill. Among them, a lower percentage to override the cap, an exclusion of pension contribution growth which is often a huge cost to the districts, health care costs excluded and a change in language allowing adopting the higher figure of CPI growth vs. tax cap growth (right now it is the lower of the two). The coalition is also hoping the bill allows for changes due to enrollment growth or considers budget growth instead of tax levy growth.

If the bill passes in its current form or something similar to it, Rublin admits Scarsdale will have its work cut out for it if the same quality of education is to be maintained.

However, everything he learned in Albany showed that numbers matter and constituent’s count. It can be as simple as clicking on a link sent to you from the PTA.

“People shouldn’t think that their voice doesn’t count on this matter,” Rublin says. “From everything we have heard that its critical that everyone who cares about this issue that people express their views even if it’s just clicking on a link from an email from the PTA. Numbers matter.”

Pictured Above: Representatives from local schools met with Assemblywoman Paulin and Assemblyman Abinanti in Albany.

Jen is a freelance journalist who has covered the economy and markets for over a decade at a major financial news outlet. She lives in Scarsdale with her husband and 2 children. Jen has yet to bake a successful batch of cookies.