To comply with the state’s new property-tax cap, schools would be limited to an average tax-levy increase of 3 percent, according to a report Thursday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature enacted a cap last year that limits the growth in the tax levy to 2 percent a year for schools and municipalities.
But the cap includes exemptions, such as the growth in pension costs, that allow each taxing entity to determine its own cap amount. The average for school districts will be about 3 percent, a review by the Empire Center for New York State Policy found.
The fiscally conservative, Albany-based policy group calculated the average allowable tax increases based on data from the state Comptroller’s Office. The 679 school districts that had reported their tax-levy amount to the state had a median tax-levy increase of 2.7 percent, the group said.
“That’s pretty restrained by historical standards. I think so far it’s working well,” E.J. McMahon, the group’s senior fellow, said of the tax cap.
Last school year, schools proposed on average a 3.4 percent tax levy increase.
