For the first time in over a decade, there won’t be a hike to property taxes in the 2026 Town of New Paltz budget. In a social media post, supervisor Amanda Gotto attributed this to a combination of holding the line on expenses, conservatively increasing revenue estimates and making up the difference with over a million dollars from the fund balance — the money that’s left over at the end of a budget year and is the only money that can be used for surprise and emergency expenses. There could be as much as $5.8 million left in that slush fund now that the budget has been approved.
Two suggestions that could increase spending were considered at the table and one of those was approved. Esi Lewis requested that town residents who receive SNAP benefits (from the federal supplemental nutrition assistance program) be given free access to Moriello Pool, which was received well. Whether that will hit the bottom line is unclear, as no information was presented on how many SNAP recipients have paid for access in the past.
Declined on a 2-3 vote was Edgar Rodriguez’s move to give raises of five percent to the supervisor and council members. Rodriguez and Lewis, who was the other member voting in support, are among the four at the table on November 6 who won’t be there come January, and thus cannot benefit. Gotto’s opposition was based on the idea that those who serve should not be depending on the money to do that work, while Lewis countered that such a rationale essentially restricts the candidate pool to those who don’t need to earn a living.
The budget was approved 3-2, with Rodriguez and Lewis voting against.
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