Elmsford trustees open public hearing on tentative 2024–25 budget; resident urges tax relief

The Elmsford Board of Trustees opened a public hearing on the tentative 2024–25 budget and heard a resident say property-tax increases are straining households on fixed incomes. After public comment, the board closed the hearing, advised that written comments remain welcome, and voted to adjourn into executive session.

Resident Lawrence Lee of 55 South Stone told trustees he has seen his property tax bill rise by about $500 over the past four years and said that a town reassessment contributed to the increase. “I’m probably going up close to $500 increase in taxes,” Lee said, adding he is on a fixed budget and worried about the cumulative effect of inflation and new costs.

An administrator told the board the municipality recently lowered its tax rate and that new assessable property helped raise ratables, a change the administrator described as a mitigating factor. The administrator said staff will review reassessment information and noted the board has roughly two weeks remaining to adopt the budget. “We’ve done that before,” the administrator said when discussing how to close the hearing while collecting additional comments.

Trustees moved to close the public hearing verbally and allow written comments to be submitted. The board then agreed to adjourn the public portion and return to executive session. At the roll call vote on returning to executive session, Trustee Henry, Trustee Koephe, Trustee Evans, Trustee Lopez and Mayor Williams all voted “aye.” The motion to go into executive session carried.

The board stated it must adopt the budget by the end of the month; no specific adoption date was announced during the public comment period. The hearing record remains open to written submissions, and trustees indicated they will take the resident’s concerns about reassessment and tax impacts into account during final budget deliberations.