County lawmakers weigh further reduction in 2027 tax levy

CATSKILL―Greene County's proposed 2027 budget would keep the countywide property tax levy unchanged for an eighth consecutive year, but lawmakers are weighing whether to go a step further and lower it.

The $132.9 million spending plan, which increases appropriations by approximately $5.6 million, maintains the property tax levy at $27,404,370. However, differences in equalization rates mean taxpayers in five towns would see increases in their share of county taxes, while those in the remaining nine towns would see decreases.

One option discussed during a legislative committee meeting this week would use approximately $1.6 million from the county's fund balance to reduce the levy enough to eliminate the projected increases in all five towns.

The discussion followed comments by former county legislator Joseph Izzo, who urged lawmakers during a public hearing last month to consider whether the county's financial reserves could be used to provide additional tax relief.

“Holding the levy flat was a positive accomplishment,” Izzo said. “But I believe the financial record now requires us to ask whether simply holding the levy flat goes far enough.”

“There must be a point at which sufficient reserves become excess reserves,” he added.

Under the proposed budget, county taxes would increase in Durham by 6%, Hunter by 3.1%, Catskill by 2.7%, Coxsackie by 2% and Greenville by 1.3%.

The other nine towns would see decreases: Halcott, 9.7%; Lexington, 6%; Jewett, 5.5%; Ashland and Windham, 4.6% each; New Baltimore, 2%; Prattsville, 1.9%; Cairo, 1.8%; and Athens, 1.2%.

The differences stem largely from the way New York state requires county property taxes to be distributed among municipalities.

An equalization rate is a percentage used to compare a municipality's assessed property values with their estimated market values. A rate of 50% means properties are assessed, on average, at half their market value, while a rate of 100% means assessments reflect full market value.

Because towns assess properties differently, the state uses equalization rates to determine each municipality's share of county taxes. As a result, a town's portion of the levy can increase or decrease even when the total amount collected by the county remains unchanged.

During this week's committee meeting, Greene County Real Property Tax Service Director Ray Ward explained that state law leaves the county little flexibility in how those taxes are distributed.

Citing Section 844 of the state Real Property Tax Law, Ward explained that county taxes must be apportioned among towns according to their proportion of the county's total full value of taxable real estate.

“It's not a may, it's not anything else, it's a shall,” Ward said, adding that the county cannot simply shift some of the tax burden from the five towns facing increases to the nine towns receiving decreases.

“We cannot gift money,” Ward said. “It's a matter of law.”

That leaves reducing the overall levy as the available option for providing relief across all 14 towns.

County Administrator Shaun Groden explained that applying approximately $1.6 million from the fund balance would bring Durham, which faces the largest projected hike, to a zero percent increase. The other four towns facing increases would instead see decreases, while the nine towns already projected to receive reductions would see even larger ones.

Durham's situation is somewhat different from the other towns. Of its projected 6% increase, approximately 1.6 percentage points are attributed to a decline in its equalization rate. The remaining 4.4 percentage points stem from an adjustment to the taxable value of GSK property following a legal challenge to its assessment.

Using approximately $1.7 million from reserves, rather than $1.6 million, would be needed to bring Durham into a tax decrease.

But equalization rates are expected to continue changing as real estate markets fluctuate, potentially leaving the county facing the same issue in 2028. Once the levy is reduced, restoring revenue in subsequent years could also complicate compliance with the state's property tax cap.

Legislator Matt Luvera of Catskill expressed support for using $1.6 million from the fund balance, saying the county has sufficient reserves. He suggested lawmakers take a closer look at the 2028 budget to identify spending reductions that could sustain the lower levy.

Whether that proposal will gain enough support among legislators remains unclear.

The committee discussion also raised broader questions about the property assessment system and whether more frequent reassessments could reduce the disparities among towns.

“It's a double-edged sword, reassessments,” Ward said.

Hunter currently has Greene County's lowest equalization rate at 24.9%, although Ward noted that some municipalities elsewhere in New York have rates considerably lower.

“There are towns on Long Island that are at half a percent,” he said.

“It's not a function of the county government to do reassessments,” Ward said, noting that the last countywide reassessment was conducted in 1960.

Since then, individual towns have conducted their own reassessments at different times. Each town is responsible for maintaining its property assessments and employs its own assessor, either full time or part time depending on the workload.

Ward said legislation requiring cyclical reassessments, in which towns would update property values on a regular schedule of three or five years, has been introduced repeatedly in Albany but has not been enacted.

Ward explained that state financial assistance for reassessments has dwindled considerably, while costs have risen sharply. A reassessment that once cost approximately $15 per parcel can now cost $155 or more, he said. A comprehensive reassessment involving new property data collection can cost between $150 and $200 per parcel.

Athens, which updated its property values approximately three years ago, already has an equalization rate of about 83%, noted Legislature Chairman Patrick Linger.

Even if all 14 towns reassessed their properties at the same time, their equalization rates would eventually diverge again as local real estate markets changed.

“Markets change day to day,” Ward said.

Greene County examined the possibility of taking over assessments around 2018 and estimated that doing so would cost millions of dollars and require expanding the Real Property Tax Service office from five employees to approximately 15.

Linger said establishing a countywide assessment system would effectively require creating a county agency, an approach he did not consider feasible.

Ward noted that Tompkins County is among the few counties in New York operating a countywide assessment system. He also cited unsuccessful attempts elsewhere to establish such systems through public referendums.

For now, legislators face a more immediate decision: whether to adopt the proposed budget with the levy unchanged or use a portion of the county's reserves to lower it.

The county must adopt its 2027 budget by December 8.