Paterson vows to force vote on property tax cap

ALBANY - Gov. David A. Paterson Sunday repeated his vow to try to force lawmakers to vote on a property tax cap before the Nov. 2 general elections.

Paterson has championed limiting yearly increases in local property taxes because New York has some of the nation's highest. He supports a bill that would cap hikes at 4 percent or 120 percent of inflation, whichever is lower. The bill has passed the State Senate several times but never come to a vote in the Assembly. The lower chamber adjourned July 1 without acting on the property tax cap and has done nothing since.

"New Yorkers are entitled to know where their elected representatives stand on the most critical issues," Paterson said Sunday. "To that end, I will bring the full legislature back to Albany before the November elections, and the property tax cap will be on the agenda."

However, he has put the cap on past agendas for special sessions only to have lawmakers refuse to act. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), who opposes the cap, has forecast its failure in his chamber.

But Paterson Sunday predicted adoption, citing a Gannett News Service poll showing 62 Assembly members back the property-tax cap bill, with 23 opposed. The remaining 64 were undecided or refused to answer. Passage requires 76 votes. Of Long Island's 21 members, 11 support the cap; two are opposed, one is undecided and seven didn't respond, according to Gannett.