Post by dgriffin on Oct 13, 2011 13:36:10 GMT -5
From the Property Tax Reform Coalition:
Dear PTR Advocates,
Why are your property taxes high and getting higher?
ANSWER IN BRIEF:
Many reasons - here's a big one:
• Lapse in NYS Revenue Sharing
GREATER LENGTH:
Revenue sharing is State aid (dollars from statewide tax collections) passed on to local governments to be used for any local government purpose.
By NYS law, the State is required to share 8% of its tax collections with local governments to help pay for mandated programs such as Medicaid (a federal program/state) and countless others.
Since the late 1980s, the State has reneged on its 8%. How? The State legislature has overridden the law. The result is local government must raise property taxes considerably to fill the gap.
Further, the State continues to increase State-mandated programs. "Across the state, landowners paid about $4.4 billion total in property taxes in 2010, and $4 billion of that went to pay for state mandates." (NYS Assoc. of Counties Deputy Director Mark LaVigne.)
> 1. Medicaid.
>
> In 1966 when Nelson Rockefeller was governor in 1966, the federal government started to offer states a new program called Medicaid, which would help low-income people with the cost of health care. The U.S. would pay 50 percent of the costs, but the state would have to figure out how to make up the other 50 percent.
>
> Most states took the program and agreed to be responsible for their shares of the match, but New York was unique in that it decided to have counties split the 50 percent match with the state. Some states require a local share for some programs, but not across the board like New York does, LaVigne said.
>
> Now Medicaid is the most expensive mandate for New York's counties, taking up large portions of spending from each county's budget.
>
> In Rockland County, for example, the Medicaid program alone costs 110 percent of the tax levy. Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef told a sympathetic crowd of county officials from across the state about it as part of the tax cap panel discussion. He said he felt like he is having to dismantle county government, including getting rid of everything the county has built to support its residents. He noted that while Rockland County's Medicaid situation is extreme, all the other counties in the state are dealing with the same problem to a lesser extent.
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> Franklin County is expected to spend $10.25 million in 2012 on Medicaid, which is about 70 percent of the county's projected tax levy.
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> Medicaid costs increase by 3 percent each year.
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> "No one's down on the program, but we're down on this crazy way it's financed," said NYSAC President William Ryan.
>
Sources: NYS Assoc. of Counties; Office of the NYS Comptroller.
Our point is not to slam Medicaid or other mandated programs. It is to build understanding of how tax responsibilities have shifted, landing squarely - disproportionately - on our properties.
More later.
Best,
Carole
Carole Kraus
Co-founder
NY State Property Tax Reform Coalition
www.nyspropertytaxreform.org
info@nyspropertytaxreform.org