Exec: Budget won’t raise property taxes
The 2021 Dutchess County budget will hold the line on property taxes, the executive said.
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. » Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said the 2021 county budget he will unveil next month will hold the line on property taxes, although he warned the decision will require county leaders to “make some really tough decision.”
“It is not my intention to increase property taxes or introduce a budget that increases property taxes,” Molinaro said Wednesday.
Molinaro said that despite steep decreases in sales tax revenues and the expectation that the state will cut aid to counties by as much as 20 percent, the county is prepared to weather the ongoing crisis without raising property taxes.
“We came into this crisis as financially strong as any county could,” Molinaro said. “We could not have gone into this any stronger financially and we are not going to entertain passing costs onto property taxpayers.”
Dutchess County, like most counties across the state, has seen its revenues decline and expenses rise as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the nation.
The county’s $514 million budget for 2020 anticipated $211 million in sales tax revenue, a 1.2 percent increase in sales tax revenue over revenues received by the county in 2019, Molinaro said.
In a press release Tues
day, Comptroller Robin Lois said sales tax revenues between January and August were down by 8.5 percent, or $11 million, over the same time in 2019.
Molinaro said that at the outset of the pandemic the county took several steps to reduce spending to buffer the county against the anticipated losses, including instituting spending and hiring freezes and employee furloughs and offering retirement incentives to reduce payroll costs.
Additionally, the county has a roughly $56.9 million fund balance that, Molinaro said, “is strong enough to weather a short-term crisis.”
Still, the county will have to make some “tough choices on spending,” he said, adding that while the county will continue to provide state-mandated services, it won’t be “handcuffed” in the way it provides those services.
“We need the federal government to provide assistance,” Molinaro said. “We also need the state not to shift their costs onto us.”
Roughly 70 percent of the county budget funds state and federally mandated programs.
If the 2021 budget doesn’t raise property taxes, it will mark the sixth consecutive year. Under the county charter, Molinaro must release his tentative county spending plan by Nov. 1. The Dutchess County Legislature must adopt a final 2021 budget in December.