An historic event for the State of New York took place right here in Nassau County earlier today.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo traveled to the home of village residents James and Janet Gannon to sign a bill authorizing a property tax cap in New York. Assemb. Brian Curran, R-Lynbrook, and Lynbrook Mayor Bill Hendrick were on hand for the signing.
"For decades, taxpayers across New York state have been burdened by back-breaking property taxes that have crippled businesses and families," Cuomo said. "It is appropriate to sign this property tax cap at the Gannon household, as millions of homeowners like them have had the deck stacked against them for too long. This tax cap is a critical step toward New York's economic recovery, and will set our state on a path to prosperity."
Under the cap, property tax increases will be limited to 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. Municipalities, such as school districts, could override the cap with 60 percent of voters participating in an election.
“For Nassau residents, a long-overdue property tax cap is among the most important accomplishments of Governor Cuomo's first six months,” added County Executive Ed Mangano.
Your school board can, and will, put up a tax levy increase above 2%. IT will be above 2% becuase there are exemption, such as pension from the cap, and they will have expenses bigger than 2%. You will vote. If the vote does not pass by greater than 60% to approve the tax increase above 2% then you will be forced to adopt a tax levy increase of the 2% + allowable exemptions. If the vote fails you revote or go on contigency as per usual.
all IN THE NAME OF THE CHILDREN of course.
Local governments are also subject to the same 2% cap with the pension exemptions, however, the local government entity (our Village Board) can override the cap with a 60% majority of the Board. In our case the newly elected Murray majority can override the cap if they vote in unison. They are not going to be constrained by the cap. They can spend all they want as long as they stick together. God help us.
Forbes Magazine ranking of Best Places for Business and Careers looked at the 200 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. They consider 12 metrics relating to job growth (past and projected), costs (business and living), income growth, educational attainment and projected economic growth. They also factor in quality of life issues like crime rates, cultural and recreational opportunities and net migration patterns. Lastly they included the number of highly ranked colleges in an area per their annual college rankings. The results, not one area in New York was rated higher than 45. Long Island was listed as 98th, behind NYC (45) Rochester (65) and Albany (77). The top ten were: 1 -Raleigh NC, 2 - Des Moines IA, 3 - Provo UT, 4 - Lexington KY, 5 - Fort Collins, CO, 6 – Nashville, TN, 7- Austin, TX, 8 – San Antonio, TX, 9 – Denver, CO, 10 – Dallas, TX.