LIers balk at rent control in tax cap plan

ALBANY -- Long Island senators Wednesday balked at one of the major components of a tentative agreement to bring New York its first-ever property-tax cap: tying the cap to the renewal and expansion of rent-control laws.

But they stopped short of saying it would sink the deal.

Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola) called it "a silly way to handle" the two issues. Sen. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) termed it a "political stunt" by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver -- both Democrats -- to link "two completely different issues together for eternity."

Others say Republicans are getting almost everything they wanted in the tax cap -- one of the Long Island Senate delegation's top priorities of the 2011 session -- and that the deal will go through, even if there are a few tweaks.

"We've got 99 percent conceptual agreement on a tax cap. That's the most important thing," said Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset). "Rent control is New York City's big issue. The tax cap is our big issue. So both sides have leverage. I think everything will be worked out, and I don't think anything will trip it up."

A day earlier, Cuomo and legislative leaders announced a deal to limit local property-tax increases to a maximum of 2 percent or the rate of inflation, now about 1.5 percent, whichever is less. The exemptions to the cap would be payments for capital construction, legal settlements and growth due to new economic development projects. In addition, payments that school districts make to the state pension system would be partially exempt.

The cap could be overridden only by a vote of the local governing board and a 60 percent majority in a local referendum.

Importantly, Silver proposes tying the existence of the tax cap to New York City rent-control laws. Those laws have been in place since just after World War II, but have never been made permanent. Instead, lawmakers typically have renewed them for several years at a time -- in the last instance, eight years. The current laws expire on June 15.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) has said he didn't favor an expiration date for a tax cap bill nor did he want to expand rent-control conditions, as Silver does. Tuesday, Skelos said he backed the broad parameters of the tentative deal but not the so-called "sunset" provision. He said: "There's a long way to go before a final bill is passed."

Rank-and-file senators similarly bristled. "On the surface, it's a stellar move by Silver to try to hook the interests of his [New York City-based] members to the interests of the rest of the state," said Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City).

Still, no one said the linkage was a poison pill that would scuttle the tax-cap legislation.