Tax cap law passes without a peep

The rules around tax caps for New York towns and villages require that a local law be passed before the budget process begins even to allow the possibility. That’s not necessary for school district budgets, presumably because voters get to decide on those spending plans directly. The passing of a law is preceded by a public hearing, and hearings on laws to exceed the tax cap are typically quiet because it happens in nearly every municipality, nearly every year. That’s how it went down for the New Paltz town tax cap law, 2022: not a peep. Central to this year’s concerns are the impacts that will result from village trustees pulling out a longstanding sales-tax-sharing strategy, by taking the village portion directly instead of running through town programs and services that benefit all town residents — which includes all village residents. While that decision has generated a sense of controversy around those board tables, it wasn’t enough to bring any resident to a hearing that has become routine business.