How the Capitol chaos might raise your property taxes

Regardless of who wins the Senate power struggle, the loser could be the New York state property taxpayer.

If the Senate cannot pass key legislation by Monday's end of the legislative session, county governments will be deprived of needed revenue -- forcing them to decide between raising taxes or cutting jobs and services.

"During these difficult times, it would be something that we would not want to do at all," Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino (R) said at a Thursday meeting of the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) in Albany.

Rensselaer is one of 36 counties depending on the Senate to pass an extension of the sales tax hike. If the revenue disappears, Jimino said, the county would have to choose between raising property taxes and cutting services, with bridge and road maintenance, sheriff's patrols, and help for seniors and veterans the likely targets.

"Certainly jobs hang in the balance," Jimino said. "If we have to cut county services because we don't have the sales tax to pay for them, yes there would be jobs [lost]."

In the Capital Region, Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Schenectady, and Schoharie counties are caught in the same limbo. Albany and Essex counties are waiting only on Governor David Paterson's signature, while Hamilton, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties do not require extensions.

Albany County Executive Mike Breslin (D) said his county is depending on the Senate to pass a hotel-motel tax bill, which would bring $1 million in revenue. Breslin said he is leaning on his brother, state Senator Neil Breslin (D - Albany), to facilitate a break in the stalemate.

"I tell him to do whatever he can do to make everyone get together in a way that you can pass legislation," Mike Breslin said.

Though Neil Breslin is one of the 31 Democrats who have been boycotting Senate sessions since the Republican coup, Mike Breslin said he is not frustrated by his brother's actions.

"I think my brother has been working very hard," he said.

Neil Breslin, who told CBS 6 on Wednesday that he is disgusted to the point of considering not running for re-election, said he deserves to keep his paycheck because he has been working diligently behind the scenes.

Barring a Senate agreement, NYSAC has few options. Assembly bill #8765 would allow counties to raise their sales tax limit to four percent without legislative approval, but the bill itself would have to pass -- you guessed it -- the state Senate.

Another unlikely possibility is to file an Article 78 lawsuit, said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario.

"We've been asked to look into [whether]... county governments have the ability to bring a lawsuit to compel the state Senate to convene and to conduct business," Acquario said. "It's a procedural mechanism that's used to compel, usually, a state agency to act. It's never really been used against the legislature to force them to do something that's typically within their power to decide what to do."

Though he said it's "not likely going to happen" because the courts seem reticent to intercede in legislative tussles, Acquario acknowledged it's worth a shot.

"We're going to look into it," he said.

Besides tax revenues, county governments are also counting on the Senate to address Industrial Development Agency (IDA) and pension reform, legislation providing procurement flexibility for local governments, and a stimulus-related bill that would help the state leverage more federal support.