It is more of the same in Irvington, though happy circumstance has allowed the Village to bring in the lowest tax rate increase of the four villages at roughly 2.25%. “The budget really represents the same level of Village services [as in previous years],” says Village Administrator Lawrence Schopfer.
Like everyone else, Irvington had to contend with rising pension and health insurance costs, but they were able to weather this year’s increases due to last year’s austerity. “Our [costs] were a little bit tempered in the sense that the year before we went through a layoff,” says Schopfer. “Some of the impact of those items was lessened by the fact that we have fewer employees.”
Also in Irvington’s favor is that that rather than lose over $1,000,000 in assessables like everyone else, the Village actually came out ahead. “We had a very, very small increase in our assessment roll,” says Schopfer. “One half of one percent. So it’s very small. But this is in sharp contrast to the last five years.” The increase was not due to new homes
coming on the market, but rather came from old homes going through renovations and therefore being reassessed.
That, in addition to a “modestly lower” amount of challenges against the Village’s tax assessment rolls, created the lucky happenstance that allowed Irvington to be $176,059 under the tax levy cap without having to make any real cuts to staff or services.
“From the very beginning, this year looked reasonably good,” says Schopfer, who only hopes next year will be as smooth.
