By Dan Murphy
The Town of Greenburgh, Supervisor Paul Feiner, and the Greenburgh Town Board, approved a budget for 2025 with no property tax increase. Supervisor Feiner said that few changes were made to his budget proposal.
“One of the reasons why few changes were made in the budget was because we all worked together on the budget –beginning in September. Much of the give and take took place before the budget was even proposed,” said Feiner, who explained the budget to residents in an email.
The Greenburgh Town Board unanimously approved the 2025 budget at our December 16th meeting. In late October I submitted a proposed budget to the Town Board for consideration. The proposed budget that I presented to the Town Board was $106,058,896 for unincorporated Greenburgh. The Town Board adjusted the budget to $104,308,251. The Town Entire budget includes funding for town and village services provided by the town. It’s a smaller budget. The proposed budget that I submitted to the Town Board was $24,784,188. The Board adjusted the budget to $24,721,331 for the Final Budget.
After review, a few changes were made to the tentative budget. First, the interest revenue account for Town Outside was adjusted to 2 million from $25,000. This account was under budgeted in previous years and adjusted to correspond to the actuals for this year. The Medical Insurance expense for all funds was adjusted to an estimated 3% increase. The bond principal and interest expense accounts were reduced after receiving the amortization schedule. More details of changes in the budget can be viewed on the Preliminary Slip Sheet on the Town’s website.
There was no change to the tax rate between the tentative and final budget. If a home is assessed at $500,000, residents of unincorporated Greenburgh will be taxed at $2,673.19 compared to $2,793.28, last year. Those living in the villages (and residents of unincorporated Greenburgh) will pay $210.08 in the Town Entire budget compared to $210.03 last year. This figure only applies if the assessments stayed the same.
In the A fund / Town Entire villages/unincorporated), the rate remained almost flat with an increase of .03% from last year. In the B fund / only unincorporated Greenburgh, the rate decreased by 4.30% compared to 2024.
The Town Board approved a proposal I have advocated for a few years -the creation of an Operations Director. I had originally proposed that the position report to the Town Supervisor, but the Board decided the official, once appointed, should report to the entire Town Board. The Board will work on a job description in 2025.
Members of the Town Board who voted on the budget are Councilmembers Francis Sheehan, Gina Jackson, Ellen Hendrickx and Joy Haber. Kimberly Gutwein is our new Comptroller who worked hard helping to prepare the 2025 budget. This year I invited the Town Board to participate in pre-budget submission discussions with all department heads in the early fall. These meetings were televised and also posted on the town website.
Few changes made — 4.30 decrease in town outside budget (unincorporated). 03% increase in A budget (town entire is made up of village and unincorporated residents). The A budget is almost flat. Taxes dependent on your assessments.
Feiner and the Greenburgh Town Board were able to keep their budget under control and the tax increase at zero, while other communities like the Town of Yorktown, passed a 2025 budget with a 6.6% tax increase.
