JOSEPH SPECTOR, Albany bureau, Gannett News Service 

ALBANY — Senate Republicans will pass legislation Friday that would cap school districts’ costs for teachers’ pensions as part of a sweeping mandate-relief package, aides said Tuesday.

The pension cap would limit the growth of districts’ costs to 4 percent annually with the state picking up the rest of any increase. It is one of several mandate-relief proposals Senate Republicans will approve when they return Friday to Albany, aides said.

The measures come as Senate Republicans have made approving Gov. David Paterson’s tax-cap plan a centerpiece of their agenda heading into the November elections. Republicans cling to a 31-30 seat majority.

The tax cap would limit the growth in school taxes to 4 percent a year. But Republican leaders said they recognize that it needs to be coupled with mandate relief for schools, which fear a tax cap alone would infringe on their ability to fund classroom education.

Among the bills to be submitted this week include state reimbursement for energy conservation projects undertaken by schools, flexibility for districts entering contracts for transportation and incentives for shared-services contracts between districts and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services.

Republicans will also approve a two-year moratorium on towns conducting new property-assessments, an attempt to thwart homeowners getting hit with higher tax bills because of increased property values.

They will also reaffirm their support for state funding commitments made in recent years to schools across the state, Republican aides said.

But some school advocates said that while they welcome the mandate relief, they still oppose a tax cap.

“I appreciate what the Senate is trying to do with mandate relief, but it no way will alleviate the pressure and eventual setbacks that school districts will face as the result of an arbitrary property-tax cap,” said Richard Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, has opposed a tax cap and has not called his chamber back to Albany to approve it.

Yet some Assembly members have backed a cap. Assembly Real Property Tax Committee Chairwoman Sandy Galef, D-Ossining, Westchester County, recently came out in favor of a cap.

On Tuesday, she said she wrote a letter to Paterson saying he should consider folding the health-care costs of school employees into the Empire Plan used by other state workers.

By seeking to rein in pension costs, Senate Republicans are trying to address one of the biggest cost increases for schools in recent years.

Senate Democrats also expect to propose their own tax-relief plan, which would include a cap, mandate relief and tying property taxes to a percentage of household income, called a circuit breaker. Their plan would also exclude energy, transportation and special-education costs from the cap.

The tax-cap debate developed in June when a government-appointed commission recommended a cap and circuit breaker and mandate relief.


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