Say goodbye to STAR program rebate checks.
During budget negotiations in Albany, Republicans in the state Senate failed to restore their pet program, which provided property taxpayers throughout the state with a check each fall to help offset the cost of school taxes.
The good news is the core of the STAR program remains intact, so all those who qualify for the basic or enhanced property tax exemptions through the STAR program will still get those exemptions.
They just won't get a check on top of those exemptions.
State Sen. Cathy Young, R-Olean, was a vocal opponent of the state Legislature's decision to eliminate the rebate check program and said it's just another way property tax payers will be hurt by the 2009-10 state budget.
''Every fall, households across the state have come to rely on these checks for things like school clothes, groceries and other necessities,'' Sen. Young said. ''What was once offered as needed property tax relief gets turned into yet another property tax burden that many families in Upstate New York simply cannot afford.''
Eliminating the rebate checks from the state budget freed up between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion, which helped state lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson fill a budget deficit well in excess of $15 billion, according to Assemblyman William Parment, D-Harmony.
Parment has been critical of the program, which he said disproportionately benefited wealthy downstate counties. For instance, according to Parment, property owners in his hometown of North Harmony typically received between $100 and $150 through the program. Meanwhile, homeowners on Long Island, a powerbase for Senate Republicans, typically received between $500 and $1,000.
''The STAR program is routinely skewed toward the wealthy suburbs of New York City,'' Parment said. ''Everyone enjoyed getting the check I'm sure, but I always thought the distribution was deliberately skewed.''
Nevertheless, according to Sen. Young, eliminating the rebate checks will cost Chautauqua County property tax payers the $11.3 million they would have received in the mail if the program had remained intact.
''Our property tax payers need and deserve relief. This budget was put together in secret by three men in a room from New York City who don't seem to care about the huge tax burden our homeowners are forced to shoulder,'' Sen. Young said, referring to Gov. David Paterson; Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan; and state Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens.
Albany would have had to raise the money for the rebate checks one way or another. According to Parment, Republicans who supported the rebate checks are calling the program's elimination a tax hike while Democrats are calling it a spending cut.