Town of Washington 2016 Budget Information
- Town of Washington taxes for the year 2016 have increased by 22%. The overall tax liability for taxes (school, county, town, village, fire and library) have not collectively been raised by 22%.
- The county and the fire tax were decreased. The library tax saw an increase of 84%.
- The Town portion of taxes will increased as follows in 2016:
- For a property assessed @ 215,000 $61.92
- Property assessed @ 533,000 $181.67
- Property assessed @ 721,500 $245.87
- Property assessed @ 1,487,300 $506.84
- Property assessed @ 3,301,000 $1,124.91
- Property assessed @ 9,265,400 $3,157.45
I can assure you that the Town Board worked long and hard to review every revenue and expense line in the budget. The Board did not come to the tax increase without a lot of work and concerns over the implications to the community.
All budget meetings were open to the public, except when the Board was discussing matters concerning specific employees. All meetings were either advertised in the Poughkeepsie Journal as a legal notice, on the Town Clerk meeting board and if time did not allow for publication, then it was posted in locations throughout the village.
I was interviewed by the Poughkeepsie Journal and I spent a good deal of time discussing and explaining the budget to them. I was disappointed that the article was never published.
One of the key differences in this budget and the last 23 that I personally have been involved with, for the first time the town has not used any fund balance to offset taxes. The Office of the State Controller had expressed concerns with the Town’s fund balance and the necessity to have a healthy balance in case of an emergency.
The town revenue comes from land taxes, mortgage taxes, sales tax and local fees. Mortgage tax revenues are not what they have been since 2008 when the Town was able to apply upwards of $400,000+ in fund balance to offset taxes. Dutchess County has capped the sales tax revenues payable to the local municipalities. Sales tax revenues are helpful to us, although they are now more beneficial to us as county residents, because the town will not see impressive revenues as we have in the past. The Town will continue to monitor, and where necessary raise fees associated with the Transfer Station, Recreation programs, dog licenses and building permits.
Supervisor Ciferri has been in touch with the Office of the State Comptroller. advising them of the town’s increase and our concerns. Beginning in June, the OSC will be working with the town to review our financial data to ensure we are not facing fiscal stress. This is a proactive measure and I look forward to working with the State.
The Town Board and I welcome the opportunity to discuss the budget process and our finances with any member of the public. We are always looking at ways to provide information to the public and will work to continue to provide information to our citizens.
Mary Alex
