County leaders have been mostly united in criticizing the cost
Maintaining or reducing property-tax levies on the county herve leger swimwear level has been done in some parts of the state, but local officials said it would be tough in the coming years. Chemung County has maintained the same property-tax rate — $6.98 per $1,000 assessed value — for six years, but a seventh year might be difficult to attain, Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli said. Chemung saw the greatest sales-tax jump of any county in the state from 2009 to 2010, and other revenues — such as a room-occupancy tax — have remained strong.
“How much longer can we sustain it? I don’t know,” Santulli said. “Until we get real mandate relief, the day of collision for us is coming, and I know that.”
County leaders have been mostly united in criticizing the cost of a set of nine mandates, which includes burgeoning Medicaid and pension costs. Those nine mandates take up 90 percent of county property-tax levy statewide, the state Association of Counties said. The association has gone as far as recommending the state take over local Medicaid costs, a proposal unlikely to gain traction in the Legislature because of the state’s own fiscal problems.
Santulli, the former president of the association, said his county has achieved savings by reducing inefficiencies through consolidation. But he said the state must ease required costs if counties are to remain solvent.
“A property-tax cap is a wonderful thing, but it’s a fraud when you’re not being honest with taxpayers,” he said. “Their mandates drive these high property taxes for school districts and local governments, counties in particular, and until they change the way they do business, it’s only a matter of time before Chemung goes in the hole.”
Early in his term, Cuomo put together a mandate relief team that was charged with looking at ways to cut costs for local governments. A first report issued earlier this year recommended basic relief steps, such as revising the state’s herve leger 2011 Wicks Law and stopping further unfunded mandates, and a second report is due out in the next few weeks.
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