Kent Overrides Tax Cap For 2026

By Holly Crocco

The Kent Town Board on Oct. 21 passed a resolution to override the state-mandated 2 percent property tax cap for 2026, as it continues to whittle down a tentative $19.2 million spending plan.

According to Director of Finance Cristina Cahill, after deducting about $4.2 million in revenue, the tax levy comes out to about $15 million – up from the $13.4 million tax levy for 2025.

“Why such a big increase, is the typical costs,” she explained at the board meeting. “There’s rising costs for services and materials. The cost of lumber alone and black top materials are just some of the significant cost increases.”

Also adding to the budget hike are contractual obligations and other inflation.

In addition, Cahill noted that from 2015 to 2022, the town relied heavily on dipping into its fund balance to even out the budget, which she says is not sustainable. 

“This is why, going forward, it’s very important that we have to be fiscally responsible,” she said.  

Despite the increase in the tax levy, the town’s tax rate is decreasing significantly, from 8.56 per $1,000 of assessed value to 5.77, thanks to a major townwide property reassessment that uncovered additional taxable value that spreads the tax burden more equitably.

According to Cahill, in 2025, the town tax on a house valued at $350,000 was $2,021. In 2026, with the new reassessment, the town tax on that same house will be $1,832.

Of the total budget, about $8.6 million will go to the general fund, and $5.3 million each for police and highway, with sanitation, fire, sewer, and other special districts sharing the rest of the funds.

Kent Town Supervisor Jaime McGlasson explained that she and her colleagues all declined a pay raise for next year. “The entire town board decided … no one is taking a 2 percent increase,” she said.

When it comes to revenue, Councilwoman Anne Campbell explained that the federal government shutdown hasn’t posed too much of a problem when it comes to making sure the town doesn’t see a delay in grant funding.

“A lot of our grants are (from the) State Senate or state DEC, so where we’re really struggling on the federal side is the FEMA,” she said.

After Cahill’s brief presentation, Councilman Christopher Ruthven made a motion to move the budget along to the next stage in the process.

“So obviously with the amount of the budget increase we’re going to have to go over the budget tax cap again this year,” he explained. “So we’re going to have to pass a resolution for that.”

The resolution to override the tax cap was unanimously approved.

McGlasson noted that the budget is sill a work in progress.

“We have started going line by line over the tentative budget and we’ll set another meeting where we will continue going line by line to see where else we can cut money here and there to not have to raise taxes significantly,” she said.

To view the 2026 Town of Kent tentative budget, visit www.townofkentny.gov/finance/pages/budgets.