As a member of both the Assembly Committee on Cities and the Assembly Committee on Local Governments, Assemblyman Karl Brabenec (R,TCN-Deerpark) participated in a hearing Tuesday in Albany on ways to consolidate services and cut property taxes.

Brabenec questioned Stephen Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties as well as Montgomery County Executive Matthew Ossenfort. The hearing focused on Gov. Cuomo’s forced consolidation plan for local governments, the property tax cap and a host of other issues.

“I’ve been hearing from many town supervisors and local officials that they’ve been struggling to put budgets together because the two-percent tax cap is not really two percent in actuality,” Brabenec said. “We need some relief from the incredible burden Medicaid and other unfunded mandates place on our county budgets.”

Brabenec has been fighting for the School Property Tax Reduction Act since early last year that has the potential to cut an average homeowner’s property tax bill by as much as 70 percent.

“A big issue in the Hudson Valley is property tax exemptions,” Brabenec said. “Sometimes you have whole properties exempt from the tax rolls for various reasons, and the burden of that lost revenue falls on the rest of our shoulders. We need to closely examine this as well as the way we fund our school districts. In the Hudson Valley, school taxes may comprise 70 to 75 percent of a homeowner’s property tax bill and I think shifting the burden from the homeowner to the state will prevent people from leaving for Florida.”