Governor Andrew Cuomo was at Fort Drum yesterday, touring a former coal plant that's being converted to a biomass facility. He responded to questions from reporters about the statewide property tax cap.
The governor defended the tax policy, saying everyone is struggling in this tough economy.
"You know, I understand that government says it needs more money. You can take your microphone and you can go to most families in this state and they'll say they need more money, too," said Cuomo.
The governor said local governments must learn to live within tighter budget constraints.
"And it's not right for government to be the only one that doesn't have to live with a budget, and doesn't have to live with economic realities, because the people that they want to take the money from are suffering economically," said Cuomo. "Welcome to reality, local government."
Cuomo said the “old way” of government simply raising taxes whenever it needs more money just doesn't work when the economy is weak, since taxpayers simply don't have more to give. The cap was placed on local government property tax assessments for the first time in 2012.