Tarrytown — 3.97% Tax Rate Increase
External forces on the 2015- 2016 Village budget have placed residents of Tarrytown in the unenviable position of seeing their taxes increase while the tax levy rate for the Village actually decreases. “Our real estate levy, the total amount [the Village] gets from people, went down by $101,000,” explains Village Administrator Michael Blau. “However, people will still see a tax increase, because we lost [approximately] $2.2 million in assessments.”
In plain terms, the pool of money from which the Village draws its property taxes shrunk. So even though the amount needed by the Village also decreased, it has a smaller pool to draw from, meaning everybody must shoulder a larger percentage of the burden, to the tune of a 3.97% tax rate increase. “Last year we had $51.6 million in assessments, and this year we have $49.3 million in assessments,” says Blau. “The average tax bill will go up $176.” In terms of efficiency savings, Tarrytown has been quite active. “Tarrytown partnered up with the other five villages in Greenburgh and the Village of Sleepy Hollow in our Government Efficiency Plan,” says Blau. “We turned [village elections] over to the County, that’s a saving of $10,000 a year. We now pave roads in a joint program with other villages in Greenburgh, which saves us money. We don’t mail our Parks and Rec brochure anymore; we put it on the internet. That saves us money.” The largest money-saving item, however, involves switching over Village street lighting to new LED street lights. “We have a variety of types of streetlights right now,” he says. “We’re going to be converting to LED street lights throughout the Village. The electricity savings are anticipated to be $135,000 a year.” That project, projected to begin in June, is one of a number of infrastructure projects residents will see this summer. “The DPW Superintendent has already submitted roads for paving projects for this coming fiscal year, because the roads are in horrible shape from this last winter,” admits Blau. “We will continue with our water improvement projects. With grant money we’re doing some additional improvements along the riverfront. We have a new pedestrian bridge that we will be constructing across Andre Brook. Working with Westchester County and the State of the New York, we will be extending the Riverwalk along Losee Park.” It promises to be a busy summer in Tarrytown.
