This month, the New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency & Competitiveness and the New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief were to issue full reports on special districts and property tax relief respectively. Both commissions have delayed their full reports for various and sundry reasons. Both commissions have held hearings, which have revealed certain priorities of various commission members and elected officials. It seems these commissions are headed for half measures that deal with shifting the tax revenue raising burden and land use regulatory authority while leaving the governmental expense side undisturbed and home rule authority in tatters.

In an update from the NYS Commission on Local Government Efficiency & Competitiveness, a concept of "Smart-Growth Compact Regions" was put forth. "Incentive funding and other inducements" would be provided for pilot programs such as the "actual transfer of responsibility for land use regulation to the county level." In other words, the villages and towns would no longer control land use and zoning in their respective jurisdictions. What debt-ridden entities will provide the incentive funding for this bad idea?

In the hearings by the New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief, some have called for the replacement of property taxes with an income tax. These individuals and organizations want to shift from a more stable tax, the property tax, to a less stable tax, the income tax. It is not that the property tax is a bad tax. It is that property taxes are too high relative to the income of property owners and the underlying value of their properties. An additional income tax is a bad idea.

It seems that these commissions are in the business of shifting cost and regulatory authority in an effort to continue the revenue streams unabated in the quest to continue to spend at current levels, while giving land use authority to large governments who are continually in fiscal difficulty and less responsive to the concerns of individual citizens of our villages and towns.

Edward W. Powers