POUGHKEEPSIE – Mayor Marc Nelson says he is preparing to ask the Poughkeepsie Common Council to override the New York State Property Tax Cap to provide necessary funding for the city’s expenses next year. The last time the city overrode the cap was under then-Mayor Rob Rolison who inherited a substantial financial deficit from his predecessor, Mayor John Tkazyik, who left a deficit of more than $10 million.
According to the New York State Comptroller, “With some exceptions, the State’s Property Tax Cap limits the amount local governments and most school districts can increase the tax levy (the total amount of property taxes billed) to the lower of two percent or the rate of inflation. (Individual property tax bills are based on various factors, and they may increase more than two percent.)”
“We’re looking for council support to break the tax cap, unfortunately, for the first time in a number of years,” Nelson said. The mayhor says the needed override will be for six or seven percent as the tentative budget stands right now. State law requires the common council to pass a resolution authorizing the override by 60 percent of the members.
“When I was Finance Commissioner in 2016,” Nelson said, “We had to do it once coming in after eight years of Mayor Tkazyik, and that was a very difficult budget.” When Rolison took office in 2017, the finances were in such disarray, that Rolison discovered that necessary repairs to the HVAC system and electric had not been made, leaving much of the third floor, including the mayor’s office cold and dark. Nelson says that 2016 override of the cap, along with consistent fiscal management has reduced the deficit from $13 million to under $3 million. He expressed optimism that the 2024 budget will all but eliminate the remaining deficit.
Citing inflation, including labor costs, which he calls “post-pandemic problems”, Nelson says his tentative budget, which the council will be given before…
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