To balance New York State’s next budget, Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer lays more expenses on county governments.

The tab for Erie County in 2009 will be an additional $6 million if the State Legislature goes along. That amounts to half of this year’s property tax increase.

For decades, counties and the state of New York have split 50-50 the portion of their safety net programs that the federal government does not cover. But the Spitzer administration now wants counties to pay 52 percent, the state 48 percent.

If implemented, the change would cost Erie County $1.2 million for the remaining months of this year and $1.6 million for the next, according to an analysis by county Budget Director Beth A. Kornbrekke.

The second change ends another 50-50 split in paying to detain youths in county facilities when ordered by a local Family Court. State budget officials propose that counties take on the entire obligation.

For Erie County, that would create an additional $3.4 million expense for the remainder of this year and $4.4 million for next year, Kornbrekke said in her analysis.

Erie County is slowly rebuilding reserves so it can weather surprises, such as unexpected expenses from Albany. But if for some reason Erie could only raise property taxes to cover the new costs, tax bills would have to go up about 3 percent.

The county for this year did not raise its tax rate but let increases in property values generate an additional $12 million a year— a 6 percent increase over 2007.

Spitzer’s budget division expects counties will generate new income for themselves by raising certain fees imposed by their county clerks, and the division figures counties will receive their share when sales taxes are charged on Indian reservations and on Internet purchases from within New York’s borders.

But is that income reliable?

In his own analysis of the state budget, County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz said it will be difficult to forecast the gain from Internet purchases, and the collection of taxes on reservations “is not likely to materialize in 2008.”

In her analysis, Kornbrekke said the income-generating suggestions — such as raising the cost to record a mortgage at the county clerk’s office, for example — just burden county residents.

The state Association of Counties, which began studying Spitzer’s budget for 2008-09 after it was unveiled in January, alerted its members to the provisions that seem to shunt more state expenses onto property owners. The association is expected to bring officials from 19 counties around the state to Buffalo on March 13 to discuss their problems with the governor’s budget.

“New York has the highest local taxes in America, and that’s not because every Democrat and every Republican, upstate and downstate, doesn’t care about taxes. It’s because the state has forced expenses down to the local governments,” said the association’s executive director, Stephen J. Acquario, when testifying before the state Property Tax Commission this month.

State government in recent years has tried to suppress the property tax load. Former Gov. George E. Pataki and the Legislature at the time implemented the School Tax Relief program, or STAR, and under Spitzer the Legislature has granted additional relief. The state also capped the growth of the Medicaid program, which was choking county governments.

Facing a budget gap of nearly $5 billion for 2008-09, Spitzer proposed halting a planned increase in STAR rebates. Homeowners statewide were to receive about $1.8 billion in rebate checks, but under his budget they would get $1.3 billion, or an average $386, the same as last year. Senior citizens would still receive an increase.

Other state budget changes might affect county budgets. Spitzer wants to cut the amount of aid given to community colleges, dropping it from $2,675 to $2,625 for a full-time student. That could prompt calls to increase the county’s contribution to Erie Community College, Poloncarz said.

He also said that in raising the salaries for state judges, the budget raises the salaries for district attorneys in each county. Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark’s pay would rise from $136,700 to $165,200, an increase that would be retroactive to April 2006 and laid on county taxpayers, Poloncarz said.

At the same time, Spitzer’s budget increases aid to Buffalo by $13.9 million — 9 percent — to $169 million. Most suburban towns would get increases averaging 3 percent, while other cities, including Rochester, would receive a 13.5 percent increase. Spitzer also proposed a $1 billion upstate revitalization fund.

mspina@buffnews.com

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