In light of ongoing efforts to prevent tax increases, Town Board members will undertake a tax fairness review in 2026 - 2027. Some questions to be considered:

• Should the Town’s senior citizen, veteran, and other exemptions be increased for residents living on fixed incomes, and to what extent can this be done without overburdening young families, local businesses, and other taxpayers? 

• Are the Town’s equalization, homestead/non-homestead, residential, and business rates fairly apportioned?  Are owners of the most expensive properties paying a fair share?

• The majority of residents’ land-tax bills are not for Town taxes but for special districts, particularly (outside of New Hamburg) Arlington and Fairview Fire Districts. Given that fire district budgets are controlled by separate commissions and not the Town Board, are there any strategies the Town Board can use to address high special district taxes?   (See pages 29-32 of the 2026 Town Budget online for a breakdown of land tax bills. In Arlington and Fairview, residents are paying more in fire taxes than for their entire Town taxes.)

• Are there strategies the Town could use to increase the share of local sales-tax revenue that it receives from Dutchess County, or any other such revenues? By New York law, the Cities of Poughkeepsie and Beacon are able to negotiate with Dutchess County for a larger share of sales tax revenues than towns receive.  The Town must accept what the County offers—currently just 1.7%, though the Town provides infrastructure and public safety for a large portion of the county’s central commercial and retail core. The impact is immense.  If in 2024, for example, the Town had received the same percentage of sales tax as did the City of Beacon, which has a population two-thirds smaller, the Town would have received almost $2 million more. That income alone would offset a substantial portion of the anticipated costs of borrowing for these needed capital projects. Board member Shantha Thangiah has volunteered to be a point person in this research and liaison with county elected officials for dialogue.

Takeaway:  The Town is undertaking these projects because urgent capital needs for our most important government buildings have been neglected for decades.  The Town Board will continue seeking efficiencies in the budget but believes that generating new income streams is a crucial priority, to avoid cuts to basic resident services.