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January 26, 2008
A weblog about the politics and affairs of the old and glorious City of Albany, New York, USA. Articles written and disseminated from Albany's beautiful and historic South End by Daniel Van Riper. If you wish to make a response, have anything to add or would like to make an empty threat, please contact me.
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Property Taxes And Sprawl
The Governor dances around the only solution to
New York’s fiscal crisisNew York State Governor Eliot Spitzer has created two new high level panels, that is, excuses for people to meet and drink coffee and discuss important things. If the donuts are tasty enough, these meetings will produce some productive policy initiatives that the Governor can implement, and maybe even solve some pressing problems.
The first panel the Governor calls a Smart Growth Cabinet. This has been created by executive order, by waving his hand and letting his will be known. According to the press release:
The Cabinet will review state agency spending and policies to determine how best to discourage sprawl and promote smart land use practices. It will coordinate cross-agency activities and develop “smart growth” policies that cater to New York’s unique regional needs.
A long time ago, back in the 1960s, there was a dark joke that made the rounds: You can’t find anyone who is in favor of nuclear war. (Until Ronnie Reagan came along, that is.) These days sprawl is a dirty word, a thing like nuclear war that everyone says is bad and no one wants. But like nuclear war, our society supports an entire system of subsidies and legal encouragement's that makes the sprawl that no one wants quite possible.
Mr. Spitzer, with this new “cabinet,” appears to be taking the next step, actually doing something about the problem rather than issuing occasional platitudes. His seriousness is reflected by assigning the co-chairmanship to two of his top lieutenants, Deputy Secretary for the Environment Judith Enck and the Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Infrastructure Timothy Gilchrist.
But he is likely to step on some very big and expensive toes if he is serious. After all, the suburbs did not appear magically or by accident, they are the result of a government program that has spread this vast disposable scab on our landscape. The only way to get rid of sprawl is to dismantle this program.
Some very big and bloated creatures, such as Senate Majority leader Joe Bruno, work very hard to promote sprawl. One example of Joe’s handiwork is the pricey infrastructure created up in Malta for Advanced Micro Design (AMD) at Luther forest. Well surprise, surprise, it looks like AMD not only is not going to take advantage of New York State’s cutting edge foray into corporate socialism, the chip fab corporation may actually go down the tubes.
But see, we have in the works a massive ten mile water line bringing clean, sparkling Hudson River water deep inland. We have five, count ‘em, five roundabouts planted near the Northway, designed to facilitate auto traffic and discourage pedestrians and bicyclists. And also for the autos we have the Round Lake Bypass, currently under construction. Sewer and power lines, a generic environmental impact statement to fend off those pesky environmentalists, special zoning designations, the list goes on.
So if AMD never shows up long enough to pocket our tax dollars, the welcoming committee is in position and ready to party. We can’t let all that infrastructure go to waste, can we? What a perfect spot to drop another sprawl “development,” a big opportunity for some sprawl “developers” to make some real cash on the backs of the taxpayers.
Another example of Bruno’s genius is right across the river in East Greenbush. Joe’s vision for the area along Route 4 and Route 43 is a big automobile slum. Millions of tax dollars have been poured into turning this intersection into an eight lane horror.
After years of pitting state lawyers against the outraged residents of East Greenbush who don’t want unlimited sprawl in their backyards, Bruno’s vision of Hell has finally come to rotten fruition. The series of lawsuits paid for, filed and maintained by the locals have finally all been defeated, and a 254,000 square foot plaza will be planted in the now empty fields. Construction began immediately.
And this carries us right up to the Governor's other panel, this other collection of persons who plan to get together and compare donuts. This is the much touted New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief, chaired by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, also created by a wave of the Governor's hand. From the press release:
This bipartisan commission, which will have Moreland Act powers, will examine the root causes of high property taxes, identify ways to make the State’s property tax system fairer, and develop a fair and effective school property tax cap to hold the line on property tax growth.
Now, this sounds really serious. The Moreland Act dates back to 1907. It empowers the Governor to appoint a public board:
...to examine and investigate the management and affairs of any department, board, bureau or commission of the state." Investigators [are] empowered to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, hold hearings, and subpoena "any books or papers deemed relevant or material."
Everybody who owns property wants to pay lower property taxes, right? I know I do. And nothing shows the property owning voters that you care about them like appointing a commission with subpoena powers. And what will this commission actually do? Again from the press release:
...The Commission will study... the root causes of New York’s high property tax burden, including the expenditures of local governments and school districts, unfunded mandates imposed by the State, and other factors driving the growth of local property tax levies.
So the question here is whether the idea behind this Property Tax Relief commission is to come up with new ideas, or to promote Mr. Spitzer’s personal opinions on the subject. The press release quote from the Governor suggests the latter:
“Our efforts to address this crisis – including unprecedented increases in State education aid and more than $5 billion in STAR school tax relief – have not slowed the growth in local property taxes. We need to explore new approaches, including reducing unfunded mandates and placing a cap on the growth of school property taxes.”
Notice how they keep mentioning “caps.” When the State imposes a limit on how much in taxes a municipality can collect, is that not an unfunded mandate? The State would be saying, in effect, the municipalities are no longer allowed to raise taxes. If you want to see an economic collapse across Upstate New York, why, that ought to do the trick nicely.
If you’ve been following the news, you are aware that the corporate media has finally admitted that our nation is entering a time of economic recession. That means that the State of New York and all the local counties, cities and towns are going to bring in a lot less money this year, and what they bring in won’t be worth as much as it used to. Under such conditions, only a self-destructive lunatic bent on creating economic collapse, like with crowds starving in the streets, would impose a cap on local tax collection. You know, a Republican.
Let’s stand back from this and take another look. Could it be, maybe, just possibly, that there is an underlying reason for rising taxes, year after year, for the ever spiraling upward cost of government?
Yes, of course, the nitwits in the White House and the doodleheads in Congress keep cutting taxes for corporations and for the rich. Therefore, state and local taxes have to go up to compensate for the resulting deficit. There’s nothing Governor Spitzer can do about that.
But that doesn’t mean that nothing can be done to cut local property taxes.
They oughta listen to me. Here’s my suggestion. The Property Tax Relief commission should go talk to the Smart Growth Cabinet.
Why? Well, I’ve written about this before. Thank you for asking. Here’s a quote from an article I wrote for the Save The Pine Bush newsletter back in 1999:
The cities of upstate New York, in particular Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, have seen a population increase of 4% since the 1960's (Albany's population has declined). Yet these same cities have increased their land use by 80%! Land use has almost doubled, while the population has remained virtually the same. Someone is paying for this increased land use, and it's not the developers. Guess who does.
Yes folks, sprawl makes our taxes go up. This is not rocket science. Automobiles not only allow us to use more land than ever before. Autos demand that we use more land, to drive and park the damn things.
Global warming is not the only price we pay for our gas guzzling pollution machines. The more we drive our automobiles, the more land we need to use and pay for. Driving your car raises your taxes.
May I make a modest suggestion? To stop property taxes from increasing, we need a crash program to reduce dependence on automobiles. Not to eliminate automobiles, mind you. To reduce dependence.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have choice? Imagine how delightful it would be to take a pleasant train ride to work, scanning your favorite electronic device or printed material, sipping your favorite coffee concoction and maybe even having a donut. I’ve lived in places where I could do that, why can’t I do that in the Capital District?
Or imagine being able to hop a bus home at two o’clock in the morning after a raucous night out in a neighboring city. Don’t we all want to reduce drunk driving? Again, I’ve lived in places where late night busses are expected and reliable.
I don’t want to give up my pickup truck, nosiree. I need it to haul refrigerators and zip off to lumber yard when I want to. What I want is a choice, to not have to keep it full of expensive imported gasoline, to not be dependent on the damn thing. Is that too much to ask?
To reduce dependence on automobiles would require rebuilding our State. It would require transforming suburban sprawl hellholes into communities where it is easier to walk than to drive. It would be a massive job generator, very attractive to job-creating developers.
And while we’re at it, why isn’t New York State energy independent? We have wind, water and sunshine. We could cut loose from parasitic international energy corporations would make us a boom state. Our state could become virtually reccession-proof.
Well, I learned a long time ago not to expect miracles from the authorities. And I’ve learned relatively recently that the only way the authorities are going to do the necessary things is if we tell them what they need to do. And we need to tell them in no uncertain terms.
Will Eliot Spitzer figure out the connection between property taxes and sprawl? I’m not holding my breath and waiting. I mean, who’s gonna tell him?
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