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Town comes out against Cuomo's tax cap

Jan 28, 2011 11:29 am
A town in our coverage area has decided to take on Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposed 2 percent property tax cap before it's even seen the formal light of day by passing a formal resolution against it. The Ravena News reports this week that the entire board for the Town of Coeymans, in southern Albany County, unanimously passed a resolution stating the town's opposition against the proposal a few weeks. One of the main objections they stated is that "towns are dependent on real property taxes to fund town services," according to the story from reporter Hilary Hawke. "Unlike counties and cities, towns can't raise revenues through sales taxes, income tax, gross receipt taxes or occupancy taxes." The resolution further points out that while expenses such as health care, pension contributions and transportation, water and wastewater are rising, the town's revenues are not keeping pace and simply capping property taxes will not reduce those expenses or the public's expectation of governmental services. The resolution also states that the town has lowered property taxes through program cuts, staff and salary reductions, and appeals to the governor and state legislature to fund or eliminate state mandates and reform the real property tax system.