Cuomo watch: Tax cap having an effect

Technically, no town, county, village or other local assessment district has to obey Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's 2 percent property-tax cap. All they have to do is muster a 60 percent vote to override it, then pass a bigger tax hike. But so far, not many have shown the gumption.

Of 234 local government entities that reported their 2012 budgets to the state comptroller, 34 reported that they will vote to override. That includes 22 fire districts, eight towns, three library districts and one county, Tompkins. Hundreds more entities have yet to report. Before finalizing their budgets, many are still trying to determine what costs are exempt. And some might file an override notice, as a precaution, only to later enact a below-the-cap increase. Regardless, it's clear that, in its first year anyway, the cap is influencing behavior.-- Yancey Roy