Put Valley Considers 7.28% Tax Hike

By Holly Crocco

The Town of Putnam Valley is considering a 7.28 percent tax levy increase in 2027, which would make it one of the many towns breaking the state-mandated property tax cap next year.

The tentative budget, which was distributed during a special Sept. 30 meeting of the Putnam Valley Town Board, uses $2.2 million from the fund balance, leaving $3.5 million in reserves.

“It’s a healthy fund balance,” said Town Supervisor Alison Jolicoeur. “It’s not a long-term solution but we’re doing what we have to in order to not go above the tax cap more than we have to.”

She said the town, like everyone, is affected by inflation.

“We’re all dealing with rising costs,” said Jolicoeur. “For the town, this has come in the form of health insurance costs which are up 30 percent, salary increases that are mandated by our contracts, and you know there are unfunded mandates which we have to adhere to.”

In addition to requirements from the state, those mandates include water testing for PFAS, which is required by the county health department and can cost between$15,000 and $20,000.

“Everyone is dealing with rising energy costs – 35 percent I want to say, from last year,” continued Jolicoeur. “Oil is over $100 a barrel, and that’s how we heat our buildings.”

The supervisor said the county took a “great step in the right direction” by sharing sales tax with the municipalities, which is expected to bring in about $200,000 this year for Putnam Valley. “Unfortunately, that’s what the increase in salt for this year has been,” she said.

Councilman Louie Luongo said the price for road salt increased dramatically.

“Last year’s price for salt was $87 a ton – it went up $40 a ton in one year,” he said. “That’s a great percentage. Not only that, but the downside of the contract is we are bound by the terms that we get so much – whether we use it or not, we have to take that amount of salt.”

Jolicoeur said the highway department budget has doubled over the past year due to rising costs for materials and equipment. In addition, the town is still waiting on FEMA money to cover projects that resulted from the 2023 storm.

Despite these obstacles, the supervisor said the town tried to find savings where it could.

“I think we’re all aware that Putnam Valley, as beautiful as it may be, we don’t have a commercial base here, so it’s hard,” she said. “I understand just as much as anybody that it falls on the homeowner. We’re all in the same boat.”

Jolicoeur said the town will be looking at the short-term rental law, possibly revising it to bring in more revenue.

According to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, more local governments have reported plans this year to override the property tax cap than ever before.

“Many local governments are under fiscal pressure, with rising costs and slower growth in recurring revenues,” said DiNapoli. “For local officials trying to close budget gaps or increase revenue to align with spending, overriding the tax cap is an option, and increasing numbers have reported plans to do so.”

A public hearing on the budget has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 21.

Also during last week’s special meeting, the board voted to correct the language in a local law that provides a tax exemption for senior citizens.

According to the town attorney, in February, the board erroneously passed a property tax relief resolution with inverted wording. Rather than restricting an exemption to seniors earning less than $58,400, the text stated the opposite.

The board voted unanimously to change “less than” to “more than,” and scheduled the required public hearing Oct. 21.

“It wasn’t necessary to make the change, the law was clear – the intent – based on the chart, but just to clean things up we wanted to get this done,” said the attorney.

The error drew criticism from County Legislator Bill Gouldman, R-Putnam Valley, who is challenging Jolicoeur, a Democrat, for her seat in November, saying she downplayed the issue as a typo and relied on legal counsel’s assurance that the intent would still stand.

“Laws are not upheld by good intentions,” said Gouldman. “Adopting laws properly into town code is basic governance… A strong, transparent leader would have addressed this immediately.”

During last week’s meeting, Jolicoeur said there was no disruption to tax filing or collection. “To be clear, everybody who applied for their exemption and qualified, got it,” she said.