Measure would provide tax relief for Erie County
MARY LOU RATH New York State Senator
In order to correct an inequity in the way five counties across the state - including Erie - calculate school taxes, I have asked Gov. Eliot Spitzer to include funding in this year's state budget that would save Erie County taxpayers an estimated $26 million.

The request concurs with legislation I submitted last year, and have reintroduced this year, that would expand STAR, the state's school tax relief program. The plan complements a Senate measure that would double the amount of this year's property tax rebate checks and phase out residential school property taxes altogether.

Currently, STAR and Senior STAR, as well as the STAR rebate program, are based on the payments homeowners make toward their school taxes through their school tax bills.

The residents in five counties, however, pay part of their school taxes through their real property tax bill and part through their sales taxes without these latter payments being credited in the STAR calculation.

In Erie, Monroe, Westchester, Onondaga and Wayne counties, part of the sales taxes raised by these counties, paid by the residents, are shared with the school systems within these counties, effectively reducing the amount that must be levied in the school property tax bills.

By requiring that the STAR calculations include the portion of the school tax bill paid by residents through sales taxes, my bill would permanently remedy this inequity,

The governor can make things right for Erie County taxpayers this year by including funding in the state budget. I implore him to do so and will work with him and Assemblyman Robin Schimminger, who sponsors the bill in the Assembly, to make it happen. It's the fair thing to do.

In figures obtained from the state's Division of Budget, it is estimated that homeowners in Erie County are receiving approximately $26 million less than they are entitled to receive in STAR benefits, shortchanging the average taxpayer from between $150 to $400.

Also, to assist local taxpayers, the Senate is scheduled to soon pass a multibillion dollar property tax relief plan that would double the size of the current STAR rebate for most homeowners and triple the size of the STAR rebate for seniors next year. The plan would also abolish the current income eligibility thresholds instituted last year by Gov. Spitzer.

Under the comprehensive plan, the Senate majority is also advancing its NY-STOP proposal, which could result in the complete elimination of residential school property taxes in school districts that vote to phase out property taxes during the course of five years, with revenue replaced by additional state funding.

These tax relief measures represent a major overhaul of a system that currently is burdensome and difficult to rein in, and allow us to truly partner with the residents of New York State to eliminate the tax that hits our wallets the hardest.