ALBANY — With the Republican Party’s control of the state Senate hanging in the balance, the newly installed majority leader, Dean Skelos, is opening his term as one of the three most powerful people in the Capitol with a promise to reduce the state’s spiraling property taxes.

After an extended and poignant farewell to his 79-year-old predecessor, Senator Joseph Bruno, in what was the first legislative leadership shake-up since the end of the Cuomo administration, Mr. Skelos stopped short of endorsing Governor Paterson’s proposal to curb tax growth by imposing a ceiling on annual increases. He said, however, “If a cap is necessary, we’ll do a cap,” an idea that the Assembly and organized labor have vowed to block.

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The 60-year-old Long Island Republican said that in coming weeks he would ask the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, and Mr. Paterson to return here to negotiate legislation to tackle rising local taxes, a paramount concern for suburban voters, who are a crucial voting bloc for Republicans.

“There is no issue that is more important to the people of the state than relief from escalating property taxes. That’s the no. 1 agenda, the no. 2 agenda, and the no. 3 agenda,” Mr. Skelos said. “We’ve got to get together and figure out a way to be bold and come up with new initiatives to ease the property tax crunch.”

Mr. Skelos also clarified his position on other contentious issues. He said he is opposed to gay marriage, which the Assembly last year voted to legalize. He said he supports restoring the state’s death penalty, and, on the issue of abortion, he’s against partial-birth procedures and for parental notification requirements.

The Long Island Republican spoke to the press minutes after the Senate elected him temporary president before an emotional gathering of lawmakers in the grand chamber, with Mr. Bruno, who announced he would not seek re-election the day before, presiding over the body one final time.

Mr. Skelos choked back tears as he delivered a brief speech in which he expressed gratitude to his late stepmother, Helen, for instilling in him a love of politics and expressed appreciation for Mr. Bruno, who administered to him the oath of office.

The challenge confronting Mr. Skelos is enormous. Taking the reins on the last day of this year’s legislative session, his objective is purely political. He must reassure his skittish and aging conference members that Republicans, who have 32 of 62 seats, can hang on another two years, and lead them to battle against Democrats, who are led by Malcolm Smith of Queens. If he falls short, Mr. Skelos and Republicans will see the Senate elect a new leader next year, this time a Democrat.

As a legislator, Mr. Skelos was responsible for authoring bills that cracked down on sex offenders, provided seniors with discounts on prescription drugs, and eliminated a 33-year-old tax on commuters who work in city. He fought back perennial efforts to change the education funding formula, preventing the Assembly from steering a larger share of money to the city.

Like Mr. Bruno, Mr. Skelos has what seems like a permanently tanned visage and looks younger than his age. He’s less of a sports enthusiast than his predecessor but enjoys a game of golf and is known to have rarely missed the first day of turkey hunting season in the Catskills.

Mr. Skelos comes from a family of Greek immigrants, the son of a stockbroker and the grandson of a bakery owner in Rockville Centre. A protégé of Joseph Mondello, the Nassau power broker who now runs the state Republican Party, Mr. Skelos came out of the party machine and was first elected to office in 1980 in the Assembly. He served one term and then unsuccessfully ran for a Senate seat in 1982. Two years later, he rebounded by defeating the long-term Senate Democratic incumbent.

He’s married to Gail Skelos, a longtime legislative aide who now works for the Senate appointments office, and has one child from a previous marriage.

Mr. Skelos had been positioning himself as the next top Republican since Mr. Bruno became majority leader in 1994. Mr. Bruno rewarded him with a top deputy post after they joined together to overthrow the majority leader at the time, Ralph Marino.

Mr. Skelos solidified his position within the conference by impressing the senators as a sharp and nonideological political operator attuned to the evolving suburban landscape on Long Island and boasting a remarkable command over the legislative process.

He was able to shepherd major legislation, most notably in 1999, New York’s version of a Megan’s Law, which created a statewide registry of convicted sex offenders. Mr. Skelos succeeded in passing the legislation despite strong reservations from Mr. Silver.

Lawmakers describe Mr. Skelos as a straight-talker who often offers a helping hand to political allies and has a record of reaching across the aisle to Democrats. While Mr. Bruno basked in the affection of his Republican colleagues, Mr. Skelos is respected but not revered by his colleagues, lawmakers said. “He’s a very steady hand,” a Republican senator, Jim Alesi, said.

One Republican lawmaker, who did not wish to be named, said Republicans settled on Mr. Skelos to succeed Mr. Bruno out of a desire to clamp down on internal strife and maintain continuity at a precarious moment. What hasn’t been determined, the lawmaker said, is whether Mr. Skelos will be a more permanent leader.

Mr. Bruno, the grand benefactor of the capital region and protector of his members, is known around his district by the sobriquet, Uncle Joe. Mr. Skelos, who is sometimes called Dean the Dream, has also mastered the art of pork-barrel spending, evidenced by the recreational field in Rockville Centre that is named after him.

In interviews, Democratic senators said Mr. Skelos could be curt at times, especially to lower-ranking members in marginal districts.

Mr. Skelos’s hard edge was most vividly on display in 1994 when he abandoned his fellow Nassau colleague, Marino, whom he had helped bring to leadership, and joined forces with Mr. Bruno and Governor Pataki in orchestrating a coup.

Mr. Skelos is taking command of his conference lacking Mr. Bruno’s vast fund-raising network and deep relationships with organized labor unions, which emerged as one of Mr. Bruno’s most important sources of strength.

Mr. Bruno was highly successful in raising money in New York City, relying on the financial support of Mayor Bloomberg, hedge fund managers, real estate developers, and other Wall Street heavy-hitters.

While a major presence in Nassau County, Mr. Skelos is much less well known in the city, a factor that could make it more of a challenge for him to raise enough cash to ward off Democratic advances. Still, Mr. Skelos is said to have a cordial relationship with Mr. Bloomberg, who flew with him to Athens to attend the 2004 summer Olympics.