Lives Up to His ‘No Property Tax Increase’ Pledge
By Dan Murphy
County Executive George Latimer gave residents and homeowner of Westchester a preview of his proposed county budget for 2020 while visiting a small business owner and homeowner in Greenburgh. Latimer’s financial plan, which will be his second proposed county budget, includes a property tax cut for Westchester residents on the county portion of their property tax bill.
“We made a commitment to freeze county property taxes, and now we can go a bit further,” he said. “This is the first time in almost a decade that a county executive has proposed a budget that reduces the county property tax levy. This budget is about the people who live in Westchester County, it is about giving them some relief, and making their county the best it can be – by providing services and programs taxpayers rely on while placing the county back onto solid financial ground.”
The announcement was made at the home of Monica and Matthew Marone. Matthew owns and operates Westchester Milk, a small business that delivers milk and other food items based in White Plains. The couple lives in Greenburgh.
“We thank County Executive George Latimer for thinking of the families in Westchester County like ours where every dollar counts,” said Monica Marone. “We own a small business and love living in Westchester. Every dollar we save in taxes will be spent back in the community – this is a win-win for everyone.”
The 2020 proposed county budget, which will be announced this week, also includes no “one-shot” revenue proposals, which is a step in the right direction to restore the county’s once sterling AAA bond rating. Further, Latimer outlined that this budget would build up the county’s reserves – which were nearly depleted by the last administration. Latimer has directed that $10 million be added to the “rainy day fund,” bringing it up to $79 million – a 23 percent increase over just one year ago.
Latimer’s budget plan also features zero borrowing for operating expenses. All ongoing expenses, including pension obligations and tax certioraris, will be paid through the operating budget – and not borrowed – which will save Westchester taxpayers in the years to come.
Latimer was able to make the announcement and present a budget for next year with a property tax cut because of a deal last summer that increases the county sales tax by 1 percent in towns and villages in Westchester, but not in the big cities of Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle and White Plains.
After getting New York State government to approve the sales tax increase, Latimer vowed not to raise the county share of a Westchester homeowner’s property tax bill for two years, and with the tax cut announcement last week, he has lived up to that pledge.
Some republicans across Westchester were critical of the sales tax increase, calling it a “hidden tax increase.” Rising newspapers does not agree and welcomes the call for freezing county property taxes for two years in exchange for the sales tax increase for several reasons.
First, the plan does not raise the sales tax in Westchester’s big cities because their sales tax was already higher than the villages and towns across the county. Second, instead of asking the already overburdened Westchester homeowner – who pays the highest property taxes in the county – for more, the burden to fund county government was spread across all residents in the county through a sales tax increase.
We applauded former County Executive Rob Astorino when he stood for no county property tax increases, and we do the same for Latimer, and we welcome his proposed property tax cut for county taxes next year.
It is also interesting to note that the last time county property taxes were cut was in 2012. At the time, Astorino was county executive, and the chairman of the County Board of Legislators was Ken Jenkins.
Astorino proposed a 0 percent property tax increase in his proposed budget; Jenkins proposed a 2 percent property tax cut, which was passed and became the county budget for that year.
Jenkins is now deputy county executive, and together with Latimer has been able to resolve many of the budgetary issues in the county budget, including union contracts and capital projects, without increasing property taxes.
Some would also claim that Latimer made the announcement in the days before the 2019 election, in an attempt to try to help get voters and residents to understand and realize that fiscal responsibility can be a bipartisan issue, and that democrats can serve their constituents and voters while maintaining control over property tax increases.
If that is the case, so be it. What we care about, and what most homeowners in Westchester County care about, is that the county share of their property taxes will not be increased next year and the same level of county services they are used to will not be touched or affected.
For the homeowners of Westchester County, we can say to County Executive Latimer, thanks for the early holiday gift!
