Elmont Online

ALBANY — New York's newly imposed 2 percent cap on local taxes comes with homework for the state's thousands of taxing entities. First up are the state's 882 fire districts, which for the first time this year were required to submit budget data with the state comptroller's office by Nov. 4.

As of Monday morning, more than half those districts still hadn't filed.

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office on Tuesday released the list of the fire districts that recently passed budgets without submitting the required tax levy data. As of Monday morning, it included more than 30 districts in the Capital Region, including Guilderland, Berne, Burnt Hills and four districts covering the Rotterdam area.

According to the legislation that created the 2 percent tax cap earlier this year, every taxing entity — including everything from water districts and libraries to school districts and cities — has to file its proposed budget data for review by OSC prior to adopting its budget to ensure that its tax cap calculations are accurate.

The cap includes exceptions for a percentage of pension cost increases as well as capital growth.

If OSC determines that a district's calculations are incorrect and blow the 2 percent tax cap, any overcollection would have to be placed in reserves and used to draw down the following year's levy.

Bill Young, counsel to the state Association of Fire Districts, said the low compliance rate was a result of the tight timetable between the June passage of the cap, the state's effort to educate taxing entities on its requirements — an effort the association has been assisting — and the fire districts' budget calendars.

"It was a very steep learning curve for fire districts," said Young. The association was alerted last week to the pending release of the comptroller's list, and advised its members of the need to file.

"We understand that we need to be in full compliance," said Young, who expected that next year's budget cycle would run more smoothly.

He said that the delay might be a partial result of a technology gap at some rural departments. "Some of our districts still have black telephones with rotary dials," he said.

The months ahead will bring similar deadlines for other taxing entities: towns this week; cities and counties by the end of December; school districts and villages in the spring.

Fire districts, Young said, are "right at the leading edge, the tip of the sword."