NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A9026
SPONSOR: Schimel (MS)
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general municipal law and the education law, in
relation to the formula for the real property tax cap
 
PURPOSE:
The bill would allow municipalities and school districts to only be
subject to a two percent property tax cap.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 entitles this bill as the "two percent is two percent property
tax cap act".
Section 2 amends paragraph 1 of subdivision 2 of section 3-c of the
general municipal law, as added by section 1 of part A of chapter 97 of
the laws of 2011, to remove language that ties the allowable levy growth
to the rate of inflation and allows municipalities to only be subject to
a two percent allowable levy growth limit.
Section 3 amends paragraph a of subdivision 2 of section 2023-a of the
education law, as added by 2 of part A of chapter 97 of the laws of
2011, to remove language that ties the allowable levy growth to the rate
of inflation and allows school districts to only be subject to a two
percent allowable levy growth limit.
Section 4 sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Chapter 97 of the laws of 2011 imposed a tax levy limit on municipality
tax levies. Although many refer to this law as a 2 percent tax cap this
is not an accurate depiction of the law. Under the tax levy limit, the
amount of taxes that may be levied by or on behalf of a municipality
cannot increase by more than 2 percent, or the rate of inflation, which-
ever is lower. As a result of low inflation in recent months, the allow-
able levy growth factor for municipalities in 2015 was .73 percent,
which is significantly lower than 2 percent. Year to year changes in tax
levy percentages mean budget planning uncertainty for municipal corpo-
rations and school districts. In terms of revenue, the difference
between a tax levy limit of .73 percent and 2 percent is hundreds of
thousands of dollars, which can be used to prevent staff cuts, the elim-
ination of services, and programs in our local governments and schools.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Legislation
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9026
IN ASSEMBLY
January 19, 2016
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SCHIMEL, ARROYO, DUPREY, CAHILL, ABINANTI, DILAN,
SOLAGES, LUPINACCI -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. SIMON -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law and the education law, in
relation to the formula for the real property tax cap
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "two
2 percent is two percent property tax cap act".
3 § 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 3-c of the general
4 municipal law, as added by section 1 of part A of chapter 97 of the laws
5 of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
6 (a) "Allowable levy growth factor" shall be [the lesser of: (i)] one
7 and two one-hundredths[; or (ii) the sum of one plus the inflation
8 factor; provided, however, that in no case shall the levy growth factor
9 be less than one].
10 § 3. Paragraph a of subdivision 2 of section 2023-a of the education
11 law, as added by section 2 of part A of chapter 97 of the laws of 2011,
12 is amended to read as follows:
13 a. "Allowable levy growth factor" shall be [the lesser of: (i)] one
14 and two one-hundredths[; or (ii) the sum of one plus the inflation
15 factor; provided, however, that in no case shall the levy growth factor
16 be less than one].
17 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
18 the amendments to section 3-c of the general municipal law made by
19 section one of this act shall not affect the repeal of such section and
20 shall be deemed repealed therewith; provided, further, that the amend-
21 ments to section 2023-a of the education law made by section two of this
22 act shall not affect the repeal of such section and shall be deemed
23 repealed therewith.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13547-01-6