A school district could exceed the cap if 55 percent of voters agree. But if the district received more than a 5-percent increase in state aid, 60 percent of voters would have to agree to override the cap.
The Working Families Party, influential with the Democratic party that controls the Assembly and governor's office, called a tax cap "merely a gimmick."
"It neither cuts taxes for those who already can't afford them, nor promises state aid to make tax increases unnecessary," said Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party. "We need to repeal the Pataki-era tax cuts for the wealthiest New Yorkers."
The powerful New York State United Teachers union and the state School Boards Association oppose a tax cap.
Kenneth Adams of the state Business Council said the commission's cap "offers a real chance to make New York's economy competitive again."
Even New York City schools, with littlcost of special education and the unique fiscal problems of the state's four biggest city districts and poor rural districts. The final report is due in December, but Suozzi said many of the proposals released Monday should be taken up by the Legislature this year.
"It's a comprehensive examination of the issue," said Elizabeth Lynam of the independent Citizens Budget Commission. She said the proposal would improve use of STAR subsidy for the neediest taxpayers and redistribution of state funding that could make sure the districts most in need get enough state aid.
"They not only proposed a cap which is exactly what the doctor ordered, but they actually improve the cap," said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, part of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute.
He noted the proposal allows a district to "bank" up to 1.5 percent of budget growth below 4 percent for use in tougher years. McMahon says that would eliminate automatic 4 percent increases. He also said the proposal calls for disclosure of teachers' labor contracts.
"This is a very solid proposal," he said. "We've been getting blue ribbon reports seemingly once a decade for the 30 or 40 years on school finances. This is the first one that really views things from the perspective of people paying the bills."
Suozzi said testimony included the story of a man paying 15 percent of $44,000-a-year income on property taxes. He also said a man in his 80s had to take a part-time job to pay the taxes on his family's home, but had to quit to care for his ailing wife and may now lose the home.
The cap may require more state aid beyond historic increases in the last two years and for coming years, despite projections of more than $20 billion in deficits over the next three years.
"We are saying very clearly that regardless of what happens at any other level, you cannot continue to let these school districts solve their problems by raising their property taxes above the capped amount," he said.
