2020-21 spending plan raises taxes slightly
When they open their village tax bills soon, Highland Falls taxpayers can expect to see the tax rate go up from $10.53 per $1000 of assessed valuation to $10.61 per $1000 of assessed valuation.
The board finished work on its 2020-21 budget at a meeting last Saturday morning and is expected to adopt it at its Monday, May 4 meeting.
The spending plan, Mayor Joe D’Onofrio said, is about $80,000 under the state-mandated two percent tax cap, and does not increase water or sewer rates for the year ahead.
D’Onofrio said the board is expecting a challenging year ahead due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting NYS Pause, with very few sales tax dollars coming into the village for much of the spring.
“We received $298,000 in December, January, February sales tax revenues, which is about $80,000 more than we expected,” the mayor said. That additional money will help offset the expected lower revenues. He noted there are several other positives in the budget — the mild winter that is just past saved some money on both supplies such as road salt and overtime expenses.
D’Onofrio said the village remains on a spending freeze, and will continue to reassess its financial status in the weeks and months ahead.
At it’s meeting on April 20, the Village Board authorized unpaid 2019 water and sewer bill balances to be levied onto 2020 village taxes. That means those who did not pay any or all of those bills in 2019 will see that amount, plus penalties, appear on their tax bills. There is $35,156.95 in water bills still owed, and $115,707.34 in sewer bills still owed.
In addition, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the board has increased the payment period for both May 1, 2020 water bills and June 1, 2020 sewer bills. Water bills can be paid through July 31 with no penalty, and sewer bills can be paid through August 31 with no penalty.
