By CHRIS EBERHART
The Village of Tuckahoe is preparing itself to take advantage of the state’s tax freeze program, which will cover the added expenses to each homeowner incurred by the tax rate increase.
Tuckahoe’s proposed $11.5 million village budget calls for a 5.01 percent increase over last year’s budget, from $11 million, and a tax levy increase of 1.59 percent, which comes under the state-mandated 1.65 percent tax cap.
The tax levy, which is the total amount of money that can be raised through property taxes and is capped by the state, is different from the tax rate, which is the additional cost incurred by the average homeowner.
Tuckahoe’s budget calls for a tax rate increase of 2.65 percent increase if the budget remains the same and would equate to an additional charge of $69.50 per year to the average village homeowner that—if Tuckahoe participates in the state’s tax freeze program—would be paid for by the state.
Tuckahoe Mayor Steve Ecklond said, in order to participate in the state-funded program, a municipality’s budget must be under the tax levy cap and not have a law on the books that would have allowed it to override the cap, which Tuckahoe currently has.
But the mayor and Village Board of Trustees are taking the necessary steps to repeal the previously passed override.
During the April 14 Tuckahoe Board of Trustees meeting, the board set the public hearing for the May 12 village meeting to repeal the override, which will be followed by a trustee vote.
Ecklond said he expects the budget to be under the state-mandated tax cap and for the override to pass.
While there is an increase in taxes, Tuckahoe’s $11.5 million tentative budget for the upcoming fiscal year is an indication of growth in the village and injects a sense of optimism after a couple of difficult economic years, according to Ecklond and village trustees.
The proposed 2014-2015 budget calls for the creation of two new village positions—a village administrator and deputy treasurer—for annual salaries of $110,000 and $26,000, respectively. Tuckahoe was also able to add a new police car, which constitutes the jump in funds for police equipment from $12,500 in the 2013-2014 budget to $48,200 in the tentative budget, and provide $30,000—an increase of $28,000 over the current year’s budget—in funds to repair the village’s aging sanitary sewer system.
Ecklond attributes much of the growth and expansion to the stabilization of the village’s assessed value, which calculates the worth of all the village’s properties, after last year’s drastic $300,000 decrease from $14.9 million in the 2012-2013 budget to $14.6 million in the 2013-2014 budget.
This year’s assessed value is just $25,000 less than the current year’s—a .18 percent decrease, according to Tuckahoe Treasurer John Pintos.
“When the assessed value of your properties decrease, you still have to pay your bills…so the tax rate has to go up,” Ecklond said.
Development in the village has been the main contributing factor to stabilizing the assessed valuation.
The Glenmark project, the construction of luxury rental apartments at the intersection of Main Street and Midland Place, is five years in the making and has contributed approximately $900,000 in building fees that have already been incorporated into this budget and preceding budgets, Ecklond said.
There’s also new capital projects in the works.
On Columbus Avenue by the Crestwood train station, a three-story building, which will be comprised of a business on the ground floor and two stories of studio apartments above, will replace the gas stations that were already demolished. Ecklond said the project is expected to bring in about $200,000 annually in real estate taxes to the village.
“Those are two huge projects,” Ecklond said. “We haven’t seen projects of this size in well over 10 years.”
In the tentative budget for the upcoming fiscal year starting on June 1, Tuckahoe is expecting to generate $450,000 through building permits after the previous year generated $556,177, exceeding the 2013-2014 expectations by $281,902.
“It’s a good budget. The economy is getting much stronger and we’re seeing a big increase in Building Department revenues that indicate there’s a willingness for new development and restoration work,” Ecklond said. “We anticipate this year that people that have been holding back on adding onto their homes or doing some home improvements will kick in on some of those projects…It’s good for our community and puts some revenue in the coffer.”
There will be a special meeting of the Board of Trustees on April 28 to adopt the budget.
CONTACT: christopher@hometwn.com