New Windsor budget stays under the tax cap

By CLOEY CALLAHAN
Posted 11/11/20

The Town of New Windsor held a public hearing for the town budget during the Wednesday, November 4 Town Board meeting at 7 p.m.

New Windsor Town Supervisor George Meyers said that they were able …

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New Windsor budget stays under the tax cap

Posted

The Town of New Windsor held a public hearing for the town budget during the Wednesday, November 4 Town Board meeting at 7 p.m.

New Windsor Town Supervisor George Meyers said that they were able to stay under the state cap for the increase in taxes, despite passing a local law that would have allowed them to override the cap.

The average homeowner, which is assessed at $40,000, is expected to see an $86 increase in their taxes this year. That includes water, sewer and garbage. Meyers said that if you are not in the Town’s district for either of those, it will be less than a $86 increase.

The garbage tax is seeing one of the larger increases of $46 a year, which is attributed to the fact they need to pay to deposit recyclables now and the county tipping fees have gone up.

Meyers stressed again, as he did at the last Town Board meeting, that most of the taxes are from school tax. The town makes up for only 15 percent of the tax bill.

“We have struggled with this and got it down to where it’s not over the tax cap and it’s not where it would be considered a burden for our taxpayers, which I know people are suffering because of COVID,” said Meyers. “The Town Board has empathy for them.”

He said they asked the union employees to forgo a three percent raise to “help the taxpayers with this budget.” Despite the request, they have not heard back from them.

At this time, the Town of New Windsor is contractually obligated to give them the raise. They are also giving non-union employees a three percent raise. Meyers said both union and non-union employees have always been paid the same.

The only people not getting an increase in pay are the elected officials.

“They all agreed to forgo any raise because of the COVID crisis,” said Meyers. “I’d like to thank the comptroller’s office who put all this work together for the Town Board to be able to make decisions.”

Only one resident responded during the public hearing and he expressed his concern for the raise of union and non-union employees. He suggested convincing the employees to agree on a delayed raise. He said “there are a lot of different, creative ways to figure it out.”

The 2021 preliminary town budget proposal was then adopted by the Town Board.