Sullivan County Legislature holds public hearing on overriding New York property tax cap

The Sullivan County Legislature opened a public hearing on July 17, 2025, to consider a proposed local law that would authorize the county to override the New York State property tax cap for fiscal year 2026. County Clerk Anne Marie read the public notice and the text of a draft local law citing the state tax-cap statute and General Municipal Law §3-c.

The draft local law would allow the legislature to adopt a budget in 2026 with a tax levy greater than the statutory limit for that fiscal year, if the legislature first enacts a local law to override the limit by a vote of 60% of its total voting power, as described in General Municipal Law §3-c(5). The notice read into the record said the draft law was presented to the legislature on June 19, 2025, and scheduled a public hearing for July 17, 2025, at 10:20 a.m. in the County Government Center in Monticello.

Speakers at the hearing included two members of the public who raised concerns about scheduling and transparency and asked for more localized impact information. One resident asked that executive sessions and major budget actions be scheduled at the end of the day so they do not disrupt employees or members of the public and noted uncertainty about health insurance costs and upcoming labor negotiations. That speaker also asked the legislature to include a town-by-town chart in the budget showing how a uniform levy change (for example, a 2% increase) would translate into changes in individual property tax bills once each town's equalization rate is applied; the speaker noted the Board of Equalization releases equalization rates in August.

Chris Lesser, a member of the public, summarized his reading of the item: "In essence, I guess, you're just passing the law to allow yourself in the future to raise the 2% if needed." No one at the hearing requested a vote on the local law; the session was limited to public comment and information.

After public comment, County Legislator Kat Bridal moved to close the public hearing. The motion was adopted by voice vote with an "Aye" response; no roll-call tally on the closing motion was recorded in the transcript. No final legislative action to adopt the local law was taken at the hearing.

Background: the transcript record notes that early after the state tax-cap law was enacted in 2011 many counties routinely adopted local laws to preserve the option to override the cap; the record also states that Sullivan County has used the override when bonding for the county jail in the past. Any future override of the levy limit would require the 60% vote described in General Municipal Law §3-c and would be reflected in the county budget documents when filed.