Proposed budget would mean a 2.89% tax hike

By MARTIN WILBUR

Mount Kisco property owners face a 2.89 percent tax rate increase as the Village Board deliberates a $27.2 million tentative village budget for fiscal year 2025-26.

Taxpayers with an average assessed home valued at $457,500 would see a $116.43 increase on their bill after the new fiscal year begins on June 1.

The proposed $27,231,193 proposed plan represents a $703,000 spending increase over the current budget, or 2.65 percent. However, the budget is tax cap compliant by $2, despite a 2.97 percent tax levy increase, according to Village Manager Ed Brancati. Brancati said that the village is proposing to use the $250,000 allowable carryover from the 2024-25 budget, and it has also seen a 1.0200 growth factor enabling it to exceed the 2 percent threshold and still adhere to the cap.

“We’re going to work through this right through the end of the month,” Mayor Michael Cindrich said. “Hopefully we come to some resolution on some of the issues that are challenging.”

Cindrich said he wants to ensure the village can maintain programs and keep the community affordable by encouraging future growth to increase assessable properties. With potential uncertainty in funding levels from the state and federal government, growth is crucial to balance the budget, he said.

Cindrich also pressed his board colleagues and Brancati to keep a close eye on the reserve funds, particularly the capital reserves, and avoid relying on that money to balance the budget.

“To the community, I have to say I understand climate change, I understand resistance to development, but it’s going to catch up with us,” Cindrich said. “The debt we’ve incurred over the last seven or eight years, the debt we’ve incurred, all necessary here, the improvements were necessary. That’s a hurdle we have to get over. But if we say no more development, you have to be prepared because there’s no other way to do this other than cutting services.”

Brancati said since 2017 there has been a large number of capital projects, including water and sewer, in Mount Kisco. The village has also received an assortment of grant money from the state totaling roughly $20 million in the past eight years. Two years from now, the annual debt service of roughly $600,000 for the construction of the library nearly 20 years ago will drop off.

While there have been declining tax rolls in recent years, the past year saw an uptick of a little more than $100,000 in assessable property, translating into a 0.76 percent increase, Brancati said. The village has also strictly adhered to maintaining 25 percent of its operating budget in its reserve funds.

“Now that (operating budget) number also creeps up, so that do-not-break-glass in case of an emergency, the good news: that number has to go up. That has to rise with it,” Brancati said of the desired level for the reserve funds. “But we do maintain that 25 percent reserve. We have not touched it; we have not violated it. That stays there.”

In the budget proposal for 2025-26, fund balance use, debt service, special assessments and tax stabilization funds will decrease by a combined $1,284,000, a 16.7 percent reduction, he said.

There are no staffing changes proposed in the upcoming budget, although Brancati mentioned that there are two unfilled positions – a part-time Planning Board secretary and a full-time entry-level recreation position – that are once again included for 2025-26.

For the first time in a decade, water rates are expected to climb, with homeowners facing a 7.5 percent increase. Sewer rates will remain flat for the fourth consecutive year.

At Monday evening’s Village Board meeting, there was only one resident who commented on the budget at the public hearing. Louis Terlizzi appealed to the board to reduce the proposed tax rate hike.

“You always kept it under 2 percent, which is admirable,” Terlizzi said. “However, this budget is at 2.9 percent, almost 3 percent. So I’m hoping you can get that down, one way or another.”

Brancati reiterated that the budget does comply with the tax cap, and the reason why the tax increase is trending higher this year is because the village left about $511,000 on the table last year as unspent funds, and is allowed to carry forward $250,000 for the 2025-26 budget.

During last month’s unveiling of the tentative budget, Cindrich said he planned to speak with department heads in hopes of trimming expenses.

The Village Board adjourned the hearing until its next regular meeting on April 21. Written comments on the budget are being accepted by the village through April 17. A work session was scheduled for Thursday night, April 10,  along with a tentatively scheduled session on April 28, should the board deem it to be necessary. The village must adopt the final budget no later than May 1.