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Governor rivals tell tax plans

Spitzer says levies on property would be reduced by $6 billion, while Faso promises a cap on school taxes

BY LAUREN WEBER | NEWSDAY ALBANY BUREAU

June 13, 2006

New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is seen after a fundraiser at the Glen Oaks Country Club in Old Westbury. (Newsday / Karen Wiles Stabile / February 15, 2006)

ALBANY - The two leading candidates for governor outlined their remedies for New York's soaring property tax rates yesterday, offering vastly different visions on what is shaping up to be the dominant issue this election season.

Speaking to a gathering of New York mayors in Saratoga Springs, Democratic front-runner Eliot Spitzer said he would reduce property taxes by $6 billion over three years through an expansion of STAR rebates - the School Tax Relief checks that homeowners currently receive - aimed primarily at the middle class.

Homeowners would receive an average rebate increase of $565 under Spitzer's plan, and he said he would pay for it through belt-tightening in health care and other programs that would save $11 billion from 2007 to 2009.

Spitzer's opponent, Republican John Faso, has proposed expanding STAR by $6.8 billion over four years, and took the extra step of calling for a cap on school tax increases at 4 percent or lower, a solution favored by fiscal conservatives.

In keeping with his battle cry for a private-sector style of government, Faso - speaking to the same group of mayors - pressed for controls on local spending, particularly through the relaxation of state mandates that dictate how local officials negotiate union contracts.

And he said he would like to see government pensions transition to 401k plans for new employees, a radical departure from the more secure, defined-benefit pensions that government workers now enjoy.

"The real way to save money on school property taxes is to put a cap on school property tax increases, but then give school districts the mandate relief," he said. Easier said than done, however; New York's legislature has a history of rejecting caps on those taxes.

Spitzer, New York's attorney general, offered his plan amid mounting criticism that he has not provided enough specifics about how he would pay for the programs he's outlined, if elected governor. But his opponents - Faso and Thomas Suozzi, the Nassau County executive who is challenging Spitzer for the Democratic nomination - quickly attacked his proposal.

"I don't think those are sustainable or supportable," Faso said, questioning Spitzer's reliance on audits performed by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who is running for re-election on the Democratic ticket.

Suozzi said the plan "raises more questions than it answers" because it did not address how Spitzer would pay for several campaign promises, including additional funding to address inequities in public schools. Suozzi is expected to speak today to the mayors' group.

Analysts noted that campaign numbers are usually slippery as fish. "I wouldn't say the [projections] are beyond the pale, but there's an element of wishful thinking," said E.J. McMahon, director of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy.