Hawley and Ranzenhofer release statements on property tax cap legislation

From Assemblyman Steve Hawley: 

The passage of a property tax cap is the culmination of years of hard work from both New York taxpayers and the Assembly Minority Conference who have never wavered in their support of protecting this state’s families and businesses. No longer will Western New Yorkers, facing some of the highest property taxes in the nation, be prevented from obtaining the American Dream of owning their own home.

No longer will upstate businesses be forced out of our community, which has led to massive job loss and unemployment. Today is a new day in New York – a day that we finally say to our family and businesses, “You are welcome here.”

However, the victory in our long battle for this tax cap must also highlight the need to expand mandate relief. Our homeowners and businesses are not the only ones that suffer from Albany’s spending addiction, our local governments and school districts are struggling to cope with these issues as well. The measures we have taken to reduce the crushing burden on localities is not the end of a journey, but rather a first step toward the true, sweeping reforms it will take to repeal the onerous cost drivers that Albany has passed onto local governments.

We have opened the door for real, substantive mandate relief, but we haven’t done enough. I pledge to continue working tirelessly to ease the burden on local governments and school districts so that they can provide the vital services that our communities rely on without increasing costs to the taxpayer. I am confident that the accomplishments made today will serve as a springboard for even more success in the future.

From Sen. Mike Ranzenhofer:

“The State Senate passed historic legislation last night to make New York the 44th state to cap property taxes.  A cap will stop property taxes from spiraling out of control and prevent homeowners from being taxed out of their homes. But in order for the cap to work, mandate relief will be needed.”

“That is why the State Senate also took the first steps to begin to provide $127 million in much needed mandate relief for school districts and municipalities. The act also sets up a Mandate Relief Council to establish a procedure to repeal unfunded mandates.”

“There is still much work to be done on mandate relief, including relieving counties of burdensome Medicaid and pension payments and school districts of onerous and duplicative audits.  As the year progresses, I will work with the Governor, and my colleagues in the Senate and Assembly, to not just take first steps, but to make giant leaps towards achieving additional mandate relief.”