With the ceiling on school and local property taxes in effect, a consortium of groups representing school districts, business and local governments today renewed calls for sweeping changes to required state spending.

The coalition, dubbed Let NY Work, singled out the usual suspects blamed for the state’s high property-tax burden, and called for scaling back the Triborough Amendment, an end to state mandates, cheaper construction through design-build and a defined benefit program under a proposed Tier VI plan for public employees.

All of these proposals have been called for in previous years.

But the coalition says that now the 2 percent tax cap is in place — and the Cuomo administration’s Mandate Relief Task Force hasn’t made significant strides in scaling back onerous requirements — it’s time to force the issue.

The concern is that without serious changes to how local governments and school districts are forced to spend their money, which the cap is meant to address, the measure will be overridden. It takes a 60 percent majority of voters to override the cap in a school district or 60 percent of a town or county board to do so.

But as reported by The TU, the vast majorities are making the tax cap work, at least for this year, most local governments are living within the 2 percent limit.

“Just as we faced the property tax cap head on, we must focus on enacting meaningful mandate relief,” said Brian Sampson, executive director of Unshackle Upstate. “Making our communities more affordable and preventing the insolvency of local governments and school districts needs to be our top priority. Doing so will help to stabilize the state’s economy and provide a sense of security for taxpayers.”

A quick programming note: Sampson, along with Peter Baynes of the New York Conference of Mayors, will talk to Liz tonight about the agenda.

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