New York Passes Key Legislation On Property Tax Relief
Governor’s Two Program Bills Aim to Provide Property Tax Relief & Close Loophole in Sentencing Laws.
Governor David A. Paterson and Legislative Leaders today announced the passage of two Governor’s program bills.
The first provides measures to evaluate the costs of mandates on local governments, helping them to control costs and provide relief to property taxpayers. The second closes a loophole in sentencing laws that allowed some violent criminals to become eligible for parole and medical parole earlier than intended. Both were passed in the extraordinary session that Governor Paterson called to address both the current-year deficit and additional legislation that was not finished at the end of session last June.
“While our work to address the fiscal crisis is not yet complete, I am pleased that my colleagues in the Senate and Assembly have acted on these two significant issues,” Governor Paterson said. “Particularly in these difficult economic times, we at the State level must evaluate how our actions impact our local governments. The mandate relief bill is a much-needed step in our efforts to alleviate the burden on New York’s property taxpayers.”
“We have also succeeded in closing a sentencing loophole that has allowed some violent felons to receive credit for prior unfinished terms,” the Governor continued. “This legislation will assure that those convicted will serve out the sentence intended by the court and also give peace-of-mind to the victims, their families, and our communities.”
Program bill no. 95 makes comprehensive reforms that provide local governments with increased operational flexibility. The provisions of this legislation make it easier for local governments to share services and become more efficient, creating fiscal savings that can then be passed on to taxpayers.
The bill reflects recommendations of the Local Government Commission on Efficiency and Competitiveness and the Property Tax Commission to provide local governments relief from State mandates and to mitigate inefficiencies created by State law.
The bill will also generate local fiscal relief and contribute to economic growth by providing municipalities the ability to pool bond issuances for public improvements afforded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The Governor has pushed a broad mandate relief agenda in an effort to lessen the burden of unfunded mandates on property taxpayers. In April, the Governor signed Executive Order No. 17, which established measures to evaluate costs of mandates on local governments. The Executive Order works to aid lawmakers and the Governor in making decisions about the impacts of proposed legislation and regulations on property taxes. New Yorkers have the highest local taxes in the nation – 78 percent above the national average, with property tax levies rising at more than twice the rate of inflation and salary growth. Outside of New York City, property taxes account for 76 percent of the local tax burden, and eight of the top ten counties with the highest effective property tax rates in the nation are in Upstate New York.
Program bill no. 200 requires all A-I felons and second child sexual assault offenders to serve their sentences consecutively to any time still to be served on a previous sentence. In addition, the legislation ensures that all inmates required to serve half of their sentence in order to be considered for medical parole in fact do serve half of their court-imposed sentences.
The penal law requires virtually every repeat felony offender to serve a new State sentence consecutively to any remaining time on a previously imposed State sentence. No credit on the new sentence is received for time previously served. However, murderers, other A-1 felons, and second child sexual assault felony offenders were inadvertently omitted from this presumption. Under current law, if an inmate is paroled after serving 10 years on a prior sentence, and commits murder two while on parole, leading to a new 20-year-to-life sentence, he or she will receive 10 years of credit toward the minimum period of the murder sentence if the court imposes the sentence concurrently or is silent. The inmate will serve only 10 years before becoming eligible for parole. Instead of becoming eligible for medical parole only after serving 10 years, or one-half the minimum sentence imposed by the court, the inmate will become eligible for medical parole immediately.
Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan, President of the District Attorneys’ Association of New York State, said: “This legislation addresses a technicality in the law that allowed some of our most violent criminals out of prison before completing the sentence the Court intended. Through the efforts of the Governor’s office, the Legislature, the DAs Association and Parents of Murdered Children that loophole has been closed, and the most violent offenders will serve the full sentence the court imposed. The days of unintended and unjust leniency for defendants are over.”
Janice Grieshaber Geddes, whose daughter Jenna Grieshaber was murdered by a felon who had been released from prison early, said: “I am grateful not only for the positive action but for the speed with which it was taken. Lives are saved and communities protected when politics don’t interfere with common sense.”
“But there is still work to be done,” Governor Paterson added. “I will call the Senate and Assembly back into extraordinary session on November 16 and 17, to address the budget deficit and continue to act on outstanding legislation, including marriage equality. The people of New York demand action from their elected officials and I will do everything in my power to protect fiscal integrity.”
Topics: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, deficity, economic development, economic growth, Economy, fiscal crisis, Governance, Governors Program Bills, local governments, New York, property tax relief, public improvements, sentencing laws, taxes, U.S., United States
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