Bedford’s 2026 budget tightens belt, cuts taxes

BEDFORD, N.Y. - In a period of perpetually rising prices, Bedford’s 2026 town budget, adopted last week, shows substantially less spending than this year’s.

Too good to be true? Of course it is. Still, at $38.2 million, next year’s anticipated spending is close to $145,000 below current outlays and, moreover, it cuts the tax rate by better than $2.

Town officials say belt-tightening, a million-dollar bump in revenue and other economies contributed to the leaner budget. But the biggest reason by far, they acknowledge, is residents’ strong support at the ballot box this year of bigger funding for Bedford’s three libraries.

Supervisor Ellen Calves applauded the reconfigured spending plan, saying, “This is a solid budget, mostly remaining flat in our spending while costs are going up. So, in a sense we are tightening our belts and able to reduce the [property-tax] levy because of the library tax being moved over to a different line.”

After years of grumbling about the size of the Town Board’s library allocation, the independently operated nonprofits took their funding request directly to the voters this fall, invoking a 30-year-old state law that allows residents to set—and pay for—more-generous aid.

By voting 3,249 to 826 on the library-initiated proposition last month, residents agreed to contribute $2,628,845 annually to the three independently operated nonprofits, supplanting the $1.8 million the Town Board had budgeted for that purpose.

The three institutions are “association libraries,” dependent on private fund-raising and public support via municipal aid to finance their operations. Under an agreement reached well before the general-election vote, the Katonah Village Library will receive $1,051,788 of the larger aid package. The remainder will be split between the Bedford Free Library ($766,999) and Bedford Hills Free Library ($810,058).

Terrie Paladino, president of the Bedford Hills Free Library, has said the larger funding package will give the libraries a “stable, sustainable and reliable source of funding each and every year moving forward.” The bigger aid package, library officials said in the fall, will help them maintain and expand their services and facilities.

While the library contribution will be carried as a general-fund expense, it’s slated to be billed as a separate item on residents’ property-tax bills. In presenting their case to the public in September, library leaders had said the $2.6 million would add $1.39 for each thousand dollars of assessed value. But the tax rate they described applied only to the $840,000 increase over the town’s proposed $1,788,845 in funding.

Instead, when the town’s contribution came off the books, the total $2.6 million charge went on residents’ tax bills, to be paid annually at a rate of $4.33/ thousand. Under the 1995 Education Law amendment empowering residents to set library funding, the voter-approved amount remains in effect until changed in a subsequent vote.

Meanwhile, removing the Town Board’s proposed aid sharply reduced total spending in the combined funds—general and highway—typically referred to as “the budget.” Discrete spending—for things like parks, water districts and other purposes—varies by geography, so it’s not reflected in year-over-year comparisons of townwide spending and taxes.

At $38,246,652, the town budget expects to spend $144,754 less than 2025’s budget. With the reduction, the tax rate per thousand dropped by $2.07, to $40.69.

The state tax cap, a key consideration in budget calculations since 2012, was no issue at all this year in Bedford. “We’re significantly below the tax cap, by $2.3 million,” Comptroller Brian Kenneally, the town budget officer, said in a presentation last month, ahead of a scheduled public hearing on the budget.

In July, despite acknowledging 3.3 percent inflation, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli capped the increase in Bedford’s and other calendar-year property tax levies at 2 percent, with some higher allowances based on local growth.

It marked the fourth straight year the levy had been kept under a 2 percent ceiling. That’s led budget makers to tap town cash reserves—as much as $850,000 in 2023—to stay cap-compliant and keep property taxes in check.

Bedford’s cash on-hand, the fund balance, is healthy and growing, from $23.3 million in 2021 to $31.1 million last year, the comptroller said, adding, “I think that will grow in 2025.” Next year’s budget applies $600,000 in fund balance, down from $700,000 this year and in 2024.

At the November meeting, after Kenneally had spoken for more than 50 minutes, the supervisor promised him, ”We won’t make you present again Dec. 2.” Calves held the public hearing open till that date, but no community members spoke at either meeting.

The board, minus Councilman Tom Catoliato, adopted the budget on Dec. 2, 4-0.

Board members Catoliato and Bobbi Bittker both called Nov. 18’s budget consideration, length notwithstanding, their favorite board meeting of the year.

Bittker, the board’s liaison in the budget-making process, said the meeting “really tells us a lot about the functioning of the town, the financial health, how things are working, where the money’s going. It reminds people what a large percentage of the funds are the fixed expenses and how well we do with that remainder of the funds.”

Councilman Andres Castillo, speaking on Dec. 2, hailed what he called a “strong and responsible budget that really delivers tax relief at a time when costs are skyrocketing.”