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Hillsdale board advances 2026 preliminary budget with proposed 3% tax adjustment
Summary
The Hillsdale Town Board closed a public hearing on the 2026 preliminary budget and advanced the plan, which includes a proposed 3% property-tax adjustment (about $30,000) and newly listed capital projects; board members said prior-year surplus will offset much of the increase.
Chair of the Town Board (Speaker 1) opened the public hearing and framed the draft as the product of three prior budget workshops, calling it the town’s chance to receive public input on the preliminary 2026 budget. "welcome to the public hearing for the 2026 budget," the chair said at the start of the session.
The board is proposing a 3% adjustment to the property-tax cap that the chair described as approximately $30,000 in additional revenue to help fund rising capital costs. "for the 1st time in, 10 years, we are proposing a 3 percent $30,000 adjustment in the total," the chair said, noting the change follows a decade without tax increases and is partly intended to offset inflation and higher materials costs. Residents asked how that adjustment will affect individual tax bills; board members explained the levy interacts with exemptions and assessed values, so the impact varies by parcel.
Board financial staff (Speaker 8) told listeners that a large portion of the capital expenditures in the preliminary budget will be paid from appropriated fund balance — prior-year surplus — and that the town’s unappropriated fund balance was just over $1.1 million at the end of September. The board said the draft budget remains subject to change before final adoption and that the Nov. 18 meeting is the next opportunity to act on a resolution.
Why it matters: the budget sets the town’s fiscal priorities for 2026 and the proposed modest tax adjustment is intended to prevent larger, irregular increases later. Several residents urged the board to consider the effect of raising taxes on households affected by exemptions or mortgage-qualification thresholds, a point a committee member raised during the hearing.
What’s next: the board moved the preliminary budget forward during the special meeting and indicated it will include a formal resolution at the regular Nov. 18 meeting; the transcript does not record roll-call tally details for the final approval.
