ALBANY — Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to contain the rising property taxes that support New York’s schools could mean a confrontation with the state’s largest teachers’ union, whose president said on Thursday he was wary of a new commission leading the effort. þþRichard C. Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers, said he was also wary of the panel’s chairman, Thomas R. Suozzi, named by the governor in his State of the State address on Wednesday.þþMr. Suozzi, a Democrat and an old political rival of the governor’s, will have subpoena power in his role leading the panel, which will recommend how to impose a ceiling on future tax increases made by school districts.þþMr. Suozzi is known for his bitter clashes with the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association over police pay in Nassau County. After he became the executive of the financially burdened county in 2002, Mr. Suozzi discovered and publicized the fact that the total average compensation of police officers, including overtime, was more than $100,000, a negotiating tactic that enraged the police union. þþGiven that labor costs make up the bulk of school budgets, is a similar fight ahead with teachers? þþMr. Suozzi insisted it was not, but Mr. Iannuzzi said of a property tax cap, “I’m not going to let a blunt instrument butcher the progress we’ve made.”þþ“Is Tom in charge of this commission in order to provide a more formal platform to carry on the kinds of things he did with the P.B.A.? I would certainly hope that was not the governor’s intent,” he said. þþBut he added that he and Mr. Suozzi had spoken several times on Wednesday, “and each time he asked me to give him some time to demonstrate that he really wants to solve this problem in a way that’s fair to everyone.”þþMr. Spitzer raised eyebrows in his speech when he said the new commission would be vested with powers from the Moreland Act, a century-old law giving commissions subpoena power in investigations of government entities. It will allow the commission to dig into a variety of information related to school district spending, including the costs of energy, administration and labor. þþ“It’s kind of threatening,” said Timothy G. Kremer, executive director of the New York State School Boards Association. “Is there information that was kept secret?”þþBut Mr. Kremer said he was encouraged by the selection of Mr. Suozzi. He called it “a moment of genius” for the governor, because Mr. Suozzi had worked on lowering costs and consolidating services where possible in Nassau. þþMr. Suozzi is a lawyer and certified public accountant, a politician with a sharp wit who has been mending fences over the last year after ruffling a number of feathers among fellow Democrats. He and Mr. Spitzer were sharply divided over the tax cap issue when they competed for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2006. Mr. Spitzer’s embrace of the cap now is the latest sign that he is rethinking his approach, and even some of his ideas.þþ“People have been asking me why this is an investigation,” Mr. Suozzi said. “Because you have to get to the bottom of what’s driving these costs. I think the people will cooperate willingly.” þþ“I can’t imagine what the instances would be when I would use subpoena power, and I can’t imagine using it, but if I had to, to get the job done, I will,” he added. þþSoaring property taxes have crippled homeowners and businesses across the state. A recent study by the Citizens Budget Commission, a government watchdog group, said New York’s property taxes were the seventh highest in the country. þþNew York City’s homeowners are insulated from the issue because the city uses an income tax to carry much of the burden of school financing; the city would likely be excluded from a cap.þþThe governor and his staff have become increasingly frustrated that billions of dollars in new education aid and property tax relief returned to homeowners through the School Tax Relief program, known as STAR, only seemed to give districts license to raise taxes further.þþ“We need stronger medicine,” the governor said in his speech. The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, the Legislature’s top Democrat, was generally supportive. “No matter how much more STAR we do, somehow local property taxes keep going up around the state,” he said. þþThe commission is also charged with relieving the burdens placed on school districts for state mandates, including requirements for certain numbers of remedial reading teachers and autism consultants and training to deal with sexual harassment. þþ“The things mandated by state government are often done with the best intentions, but there are so many that the schools and the counties and the villages lose some of their discretion,” Mr. Suozzi said.þþWhile the governor does not need the Legislature to create the commission, he will need lawmakers to approve their findings. þþ“You don’t need a commission, quite frankly, to tell the people in, whether it’s Westchester or Long Island, that property taxes are strangling them,” said Senator Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican. “People are looking in all suburban communities right now for real property tax relief, not commissions to study it again.”þþ
Source: NY Times
