Cuomo's Property Tax Ceiling Could Force Municipalities to Cut Services

The Register Star, my local newspaper, reported today that city officials fear revenue shortfalls if Governor Cuomo's push for statewide property tax limits is successful. Hudson Treasurer Eileen Halloran urged the city's Finance Committee to begin picking the areas in which cuts can be made and how to do them. Her suggestions included cutting back weekly trash collection to every other week, picking up recycling once a month, instead of weekly and reconfiguring the way snow removal is conducted.

[Click on this post's title for the Register Star article.]

Hudson already assesses a user's fee on residents for garbage collection in the form of city trash bags. Large bags cost $3.00 each; smaller ones are $1.50. No mention was made of increasing bag cost. Water and sewage fees also are levied on residents.

Proposing cuts in the snow removal program at a time when every week seems to bring another major snow storm and crews are struggling to keep up with clearing the streets and snow removal is almost guaranteed to incite widespread public anger.

Although the article does not discuss the school district, which assesses its own real estate taxes and the county, which shares a revenue base with the city, presumably they also will be affected. The fact that all three entities are burdened by "unfunded mandates" makes balancing budgets a much tougher job.

It would not be the first time the state pushed the pain of fiscal austerity down the road to localities. And who will be blamed for services cuts? The localities, of course.