Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mamaroneck administrators present 2026 tentative budget proposing 3.96% levy; board to review in November
Summary
Town administrators presented a tentative 2026 budget calling for a 3.96% townwide levy increase ($1,000,370) that exceeds the 2.83% tax cap; expense growth would be about $2.7 million driven largely by salaries and benefits, while $2.1 million in capital needs were deferred.
Meredith Robson, the town administrator, and Tracy presented the town’s tentative 2026 budget at the Nov. 5 work session, laying out a proposed tax-levy increase of 3.96 — about $1,000,370 — which the administrators said is roughly $388,000 above the state tax-cap increase of 2.83% ($982,000).
The administrators said revenue is projected to grow by about $1.9 million, with water fees accounting for roughly 42% of that increase to fund the Rye Lake filtration plant and associated debt service. They attributed roughly $2.7 million in expense growth primarily to mandated salary and benefit increases; Tracy said about $1.2 million, or 44%, of the expense increase is for salaries and benefits.
Meredith said the budget also proposes a $1.5 million transfer to the capital fund and lists, separately, about $2.1 million in capital needs that were deferred to keep the tax rate lower. "The budget is a bunch of numbers and 300 pages," she said during the presentation, adding the goal was to make the proposal easier to digest and to highlight what the town is buying with local tax dollars.
Resident Michael urged precision on fund-balance policy, pressing whether the town’s 40% target cited for bond-rating purposes applies to a consolidated set of funds or the general fund alone. He also urged the board to consider returning excess commission fund balance to reduce pressure on taxpayer rates. "Don't take a dime more than you need," Michael said.
Presenters said the town’s fund-balance estimates vary slightly by slide: one projection listed a beginning balance near $20.9 million, while subsequent slides cited about $19.3 million; administrators stressed these are working estimates and that roughly $1.5 million is earmarked for capital projects and less than $100,000 for operations in the current projection.
Meredith and Tracy cautioned that capital projects can have long lead times and added costs, and that several one-time 2025 savings were removed from the 2026 operating budget. They said the preliminary budget is expected to be issued Nov. 27 and that the public hearing on the preliminary budget is anticipated under the statutory schedule in early December.
The presentation included charts breaking down where the average town tax bill is allocated — emergency services, roadways, library and government support — and noted school and county levies remain the largest shares of a typical homeowner’s total tax bill.
Next steps: the board will refine the tentative numbers in work sessions ahead of the preliminary budget release on Nov. 27 and the statutory public hearing date in December.
