“So in 2026, we’re proposing a budget that’s $63.3 million—an overall increase in spending of 5.745%,” said Kingston mayor Steve Noble at his budget address for 2026.
Noble is recommending a jump in property taxes, a 5.745% increase in spending, and a $63.3 million budget for the City of Kingston. The budget is under consideration by the Common Council.
The homestead property tax rate increases from $9.87 to $10.78 per $1,000 of assessed value. For commercial buildings, the rate goes from $15.12 to $16.78 per $1,000 of assessed value.
Using a $185,000 property assessment as a benchmark, a homeowner in Kingston can expect to pay an additional $224 a year.
“Financial stressors and employee benefit increases we experienced in 2025 have not lessened,” the mayor said. “And unfortunately, sales tax—a major source of revenue for the City of Kingston—has flattened.”
Sales tax amounted to $20.3 million in 2025, whereas real property taxes during the same period brought in about $19.6 million.
A total of $20.9 million of the budget will go to employee benefits.
“While we have received lots of outside resources,” Noble noted, “the city has also needed to get our house in order.”
This is the second year in a row the property tax cap has been overridden, which, according to comptroller John Tuey, should not be viewed as a controversial precaution but rather a matter of set annual policy—an exercise in caution regarding revenue estimates.
Tuey said in 2024, “We’re using a larger amount of fund balance to balance our budget than we ever have in the past.”
A fund balance—essentially an operating surplus or a deficit—may be found by subtracting liabilities from assets.
By state law, the tax levy cannot exceed the 2% cap unless 60% of the total voting power of the Common Council approves the increase. This the council did.
Noble shared that the fund balance for the city was something many considered a rainy-day fund, which had grown over the years—a result of skilled budgeting that he credited to city staff and Common Council members.
“It got to a place where we could actually invest a substantial amount of money to be able to help balance the budget,” Noble said, “and not have taxes go extraordinarily high from one year to the next. And so we invested $2.9 million of that fund balance into this year’s 2025 budget. That is not a sustainable number.”
Noble recommended that the fund balance for 2026 be reduced to $1.4 million.
The mayor also proposes that the city’s sewer rate be set 37 cents higher—$8.19 per unit, up from $7.82.
As a revenue raiser that wouldn’t affect homeowners, Noble also looks to add up to 3% in an occupancy tax on hotels and short-term rentals.
“We’re looking for new opportunities to generate revenue outside of our taxpayers,” said Noble. “Hopefully, in partnership with the Common Council and the state of New York, we will be able to have home rule legislation that will give us the opportunity to have up to a 3% lodging tax for folks who are coming from out of town to stay in our hotels here in the City of Kingston.”
Noble noted that destination municipalities in surrounding counties already charge this tax, with Newburgh charging as high as 5%.
The city’s grants office, Noble’s innovation, continues strong, currently containing 64 projects in its portfolio totaling $75 million. The office is also pursuing 15 more grants yet to be awarded.
“Worth a couple million dollars,” Noble said. “We’re hopeful that we’ll have a good fall and winter season when we hear back from some of these grants.”
State aid is anticipated to provide just shy of $4.7 million in revenues, while the amount of federal aid anticipated has been scaled back by half last year’s number, to just under $295,660.
Noble wants to see a cost-of-living increase for city employees, as well as the creation of a new job position in the Building Department: director of enforcement and compliance. The role would add $40,000 a year to the department to respond to concerns and verify that tenants are living in quality housing conditions.
“This person’s responsibilities will be solely focused on being able to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to take those violations and turn them into either court actions or the apartments being fixed in a timely manner.”
If they agree, Common Council members will also see a $5,000 bump in their pay, phased in over the next four years. The compensation for a Common Council alder would rise to $15,000 annually from the current $10,000.
“I do believe it’s important,” Noble said, “to be able to help support people of all walks of life being able to run for office and hold down the work that’s needed here.”
Noble modestly omitted from the budget speech any reference to a recommendation in the budget that increases his own salary by $5,000.
Regardless of the top-line budget number Noble recommends—or the number adopted by the Common Council—the final spending figure rarely matches what was forecasted.
In 2025, the $59.8 million anticipated in spending had increased by $4.3 million, closing at $64.1 million by year’s end.
In fact, in every year since 2022, the adopted budget ended the year millions of dollars higher than anticipated: $5.6 million higher in 2022, $2.6 million higher in 2023, and $8.1 million higher in 2024.
If there is a takeaway from the experience of adopting budgets in Kingston, it’s that overages are inevitable. To accurately compare real year-over-year increases, comparing the modified budget from the previous year against the recommended budget of the present offers a clearer picture of the city’s fiscal pressures.
In that case, this year’s budget recommended by the mayor is actually anticipated to be $850,000 less than last year’s.
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