New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. File Photo: Awhill34, Creative Commons, some rights reserved
Jul 18, 2022 —
For a second time this year, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said property taxes will be capped at 2% this year, the highest local governments can raise taxes under state law. This news comes despite inflation being more than triple the cap.
In a report, DiNapoli calculates the inflation rate for local governments to be 7.2%. Still, by law, counties, towns, and villages can’t raise taxes by more than 2%. This the sixth time since 2012 that the cap has been reached. For most of the tax cap’s history, inflation has remained below 2%.
Under state law, governments seeking to exceed the 2% limit need at least 60% of voters to approve the budget.
DiNapoli said this is the highest inflation has been since the tax cap law was passed. He warned that as federal pandemic aid ends for local governments, this year will be especially hard for them to stay below the cap.