NEW YORK

N.Y. villages will have a tax cap of 0.12 percent next year

Joseph Spector Albany Bureau Chief

ALBANY -- The property-tax cap will be approaching a zero percent increase next year for the state’s 505 villages and 23 library districts.

The villages will be limited to 0.12 percent growth in their property taxes for the fiscal year that starts June 1, the state Comptroller’s Office said. The village boards could override the cap with a 60 percent of its members next spring.

The drop in the property-tax cap is the result of low inflation: The cap, installed in 2011, limits the growth in property taxes to 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

So in recent years, the cap has been falling: The tax cap for 2016 for counties and towns is restricted to a growth of 0.73 percent.

While village taxes typically make a small portion of a homeowner’s tax bill, the lower cap is also a sign to come for schools — whose taxes make up about 60 percent of a homeowner’s annual bill.

Schools have been warning of a tax cap near zero for the fiscal year that starts July 1. It make be close to zero, perhaps 0.10 percent; schools currently have a 1.62 percent tax cap.

While municipalities can override the cap with a 60 percent vote of its governing board, schools have a tougher task: They need 60 percent of the vote of the public on their May budget ballot. And very few districts each year are able to win the 60 percent supermajority.

Education advocates are pressing Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature to change the tax-cap law by making it strictly a 2 percent cap, but Cuomo and Senate Republicans have shown no appetite to change it.

The lower tax cap for villages means they can raise less revenue for programs and services, unless they go the override route.

Villages would be able to raise about $19.4 million less than they did last year, when the tax cap for villages was 1.68 percent, the Comptroller’s Office estimated.

Villages rely heavily on property taxes to fund its operations, whereas in counties, sales taxes represent its largest revenue source.

For villages, the tax levy represents 49 percent of total revenues, the Comptroller’s Office said, while the rest comes from other government aid and local revenue, such as fees and payments from other municipalities.

JSPECTOR@Gannett.com