NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli gave Westchester homeowners good news when he announced on July 14 that the Property tax cap will be 2% for 2022 for local governments, including Westchester County government, and all towns, cities and villages. 

“Allowable tax levy growth will be limited to 2% for a third time in four years for local governments with calendar fiscal years,” DiNapoli said. “As the economy recovers from the pandemic, local governments have seen some revenues rebound and have benefited from one-time federal financial assistance. At the same time, the risk of inflationary cost increases and the need for investments that will stimulate economic growth and fund essential services may lead to challenging budget decisions ahead.”

The tax cap, which first applied to local governments and school districts in 2012, limits annual tax levy increases to the lesser of the rate of inflation or 2% with certain exceptions, including a provision that allows municipalities to override the tax cap.

The 2% cap for the 2022 fiscal year is the third time since 2019 that municipalities with a calendar year fiscal year (Jan. 1 through Dec. 31) had their levy growth capped at that amount. In 2021, the allowable levy growth was 1.56%.

The 2% tax cap announcement comes at a time when inflation has returned and is surging at a rate of 5,4% over the past 12 months. During the 2021 calendar year, inflation has increased at a rate of .66% per month, which would work out to a rate of 7.9% for the entire 2021 year.

The biggest increase comes from used cars and trucks, which increased by 10.5% in June alone, and a whopping 45.2% over the past year.

Airfares are up 2.7% in June and are up 24.6% from last summer, during the middle of the pandemic. Some of the increases in inflation are due to comparisons to COVID slumps in the economy.

Food prices overall are up 2.4% for the pastyear and .8% in June. Meats are up 6% in June alone, and eggs are up 3%. Dining out prices went up .7% in June, primarily because of the cost of hiring workers in a difficult employment market for companies in need of low wage workers.

Energy prics have increased overall by 24% in the past year, and gas prices are up 45% from 2020, and 2.5% in June.

Visit https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm, for more information.