New Paltz Town Supervisor Neil Bettez says next year’s budget in exactly at the tax cap, despite the fact that it’s much less than two percent. Next year’s spending will be $12,125,152, with $10,160,308 of that coming from property taxes. That’s a 1.56 percent tax-levy increase from the 2020 budget, exactly what’s permitted without a supermajority vote from the lawmakers. Exceeding the tax cap would require passage of a local law.
Bettez said that this budgetary success came from collaboration more than cutting. There was a 4.38 percent reduction in budgeted expenses. Municipal budgets are bound by contract negotiations of years past. Health insurance and pension expenses go up every year. Department heads worked closely with the comptroller to identify ways to reduce next year’s expenses without laying off personnel, and the supervisor said that it largely came down to pushing off future spending.
Highway trucks will have to be maintained another year, and there will be less paving next summer, for example. “These are not permanent reductions,” the supervisor warned.
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