State Senate OKs school tax cap; Assembly awaits

    BY JAMES T. MADORE | james.madore@newsday.com  August 9, 2008

   ALBANY - The State Senate Friday adopted Gov. David A. Paterson's controversial 4 percent cap 

    on yearly increases in school property taxes, though its fate in the Assembly remains uncertain.

   The tax cap, opposed by the powerful teachers' union, passed in a 38-20 vote after nearly two 

    hours of debate in which senators attempted to score points in advance of the fall elections. The          Senate is the sole power base for Republicans in the Capitol, but their majority has shrunk to a              single seat.

  The tax-cap bill was only adopted because seven Democrats voted for it, including Craig Johnson

   of Port Washington. Thirty-two votes were required for passage. Long Island's eight GOP senators

   also backed the bill.   "Property taxes are strangling us and something has to be done," said 

   Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre). "This is a beginning, but we must do            more." Skelos pledged to work with Democrat Paterson to win passage of the tax cap in the wary

   Assembly. They have their work cut out for them because Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan)

   has said there first must be a guarantee of adequate funding for classrooms. His spokesman, Dan        Weiller, declined to comment on the Senate vote, saying only that the leaders were talking about 

   the Aug. 19 special session on the budget deficit.

   Paterson called the Senate vote "a bold step that brings us closer to three-way agreement ... We 

   will continue to work closely with our partners in the legislature to control rising property taxes

   through passage of a sensible cap."

   However, Capitol observers were skeptical that the Assembly, dominated by Democrats from New        York City, would embrace a cap meant primarily to aid the suburbs and upstate.

    "Today was set up to be a way to put pressure on the Assembly ... most of the time, that kind of 

    tactic doesn't work," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group. Notable             exceptions include the adoption of Jenna's Law on the sentencing of violent felons in 1998.

    During the tax-cap debate, Democrats offered a rival proposal from Sen. Jeffrey Klein (D-Bronx) to       exclude the cost of buses, special education and buildings from the tax cap. The amendment also     would link tax bills to the homeowner's ability to pay through a circuit breaker paid for by eliminating     STAR rebate checks for some residents. "Those who need the relief the most would get it,"

    Johnson said.

   Skelos shot back that the measure would discontinue rebate checks for 1.6 million homeowners out    of the 2.9 million that received them in 2007.

   The amendment failed, garnering just nine votes from the 27 Democrats present.

   The Senate also unanimously approved a GOP proposal capping at 4 percent the annual hikes in        employee-pension contributions paid for by school districts and a reduction in state mandates.