Tax Rebates Trigger Wild Day of Finger-Pointing in Albany

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The New York Sun

ALBANY – Tax rebates for New York City residents are falling victim to Albany gridlock, with Senate Republicans saying last night their approval for the payments will be linked to action on the belated state budget.

The holdup capped a wild day of frustration and finger-pointing at the seat of state government, including a protest in which the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, and 21 others were arrested for blockading an entrance to the Capitol.

The demonstrators were demanding that legislators stay in session until they agree on a budget that would increase funding for schools in compliance with a court ruling.

Despite those pleas – and the lack of resolution on dozens of other issues – lawmakers went ahead with plans to adjourn for six weeks.

The tax rebates of up to $400 for owners of one-, two-, and three-family homes, condominiums, and co-op apartments were part of a budget deal reached Monday by Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council.

The deal also includes a credit on city income taxes for 700,000 low-income workers. Both measures need approval from the state Legislature.

State and city officials scrambled throughout the day to ready the legislation for passage, negotiating a last minute change to reduce the rebates in the event of an increase in property tax rates.

Council members also lingered at City Hall to approve a resolution formally requesting the action in Albany.

But last night the Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, released a state ment declaring that his Republican members want to provide relief not just to New York City residents, but to property taxpayers across the state. “We are committed to doing a budget that achieves those goals,” he said.

It was also unclear whether the city tax package would receive a “message of necessity” from Governor Pataki, allowing lawmakers to vote on it without the usual three-day waiting period.

The city’s tax package joined a long list of stand-offs among state leaders – starting with the state budget, which missed the March 31 deadline for the 20th year in a row. This week, Mr. Pataki gave the Legislature a temporary spending bill to keep the state running through August 1 – almost guaranteeing they will break the record of August 4 for the latest state budget.

It also makes it likely that lawmakers will fail to come up with a response to the court order in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case – requiring an increase in funding for the New York City schools – by the court-imposed deadline of July 30.

That was the issue that inspired Ms. Weingarten and her fellow protesters, including two state senators from Brooklyn, to stage their protest.

“Breaking the law is a very serious thing, and I’ve never been arrested before,” Ms. Weingarten said after being charged with disorderly conduct. “But if I’m going to get arrested I can’t think of a better reason to do it than to try to get our kids what they deserve.”

Other issues that lawmakers have failed to resolve include proposals to increase the minimum wage, to mandate broader health insurance coverage for mental illness, and to ease the prison sentences for drug crimes.

In New York City, officials are waiting for state lawmakers to approve an expansion of the Javits Convention Center and the takeover of private commuter bus service in the outer boroughs by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Holding up the Javits expansion is a related proposal to build a stadium next door to the convention center on the West Side of Manhattan – to host the Jets football team and, possibly, events of the 2012 Olympic Games. And the MTA takeover of the bus lines the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn has bogged down.

Relations between Mr. Pataki and the Democratic speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver of Manhattan, seemed to deteriorate further yesterday.

“For whatever reason, the Assembly leadership is either unwilling or incapable of doing what the people of this state need,” Mr. Pataki said during a session with reporters.

“I’m very tired of seeing, ‘Albany is broken,'” he said. “Albany is broken, but there’s one reason. If we had the ability of the Assembly leadership to come to common sense agreement on important issues, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

In an interview later, Mr. Silver replied in kind. “I would hope the governor would put half as much energy in productive cooperation as he does in finger-pointing,” he said. “If he doesn’t like me personally he should get beyond that.”


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