MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. - The Mount Kisco Village Board last week adopted a FY 2025-2026 budget of $27,107,366, which is $579,570 or 2.18 percent higher than the current $26,527,796 spending plan.
The tax levy will increase by $336,349 or 2.08 percent, bringing it to $16,479,281 from the current $16,142,932.
The current tax rate of $111.92 per $1,000 of assessed valuation will increase by $2.23 or 1.99 percent to $114.15 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in FY 2025-2026, which starts on June 1.
At the board’s April 7 meeting, Mayor J. Michael Cindrich had mentioned the need for the village to “sharpen its pencil,” meaning to take another look at reducing the budget.
The tax rate hike, as originally proposed in the tentative budget, would have been 2.89 percent, which still would have been within the state’s so-called tax cap.
This means that the owner of a single-family home with a market value of $457,500 – and an assessed value of $36,000 – can expect to pay $80.57 more in property taxes in 2025-2026 for an average total village tax bill of $4,109.51.
Among the adjustments made were a reduction of $66,000 in transfers to the capital fund and the removal of some budgeted-for -- but not yet filled – some seasonal, some part-time positions in departments such as highway, sanitation, recreation, and planning/building.
After meeting in executive session on April 28, the Village Board voted against accepting a budgeted $1,500 pay hike for elected and appointed officials.
According to Village Manager Ed Brancati, the mayor’s current salary is $12,500 a year, while the deputy mayor is paid $9,000 and each trustee, $8,000.
These will remain flat and the little more than $7,500 saved will be placed in fund balance.
Also discussed were salaries for members of the village’s collective bargaining units, Cindrich said without revealing details.
“For me this has been a very difficult year and a half on budgets,” he said, noting that those who’ve reviewed the spending plan would know that the village has debts and is currently paying close to $3 million in “principal and interest.”
“We appreciate all the improvements, but somebody has to pay for them,” he said.
Cindrich also said that the village had had a “significant piece of civil litigation” that he wasn’t at liberty to talk about -- specifically about the “award or what the insurance company covered” -- but “between legal fees and expenses of the village, this is another million dollars of taxpayer money on something that, in my opinion, could have been avoided.”
Calling it “very difficult times,” the mayor said the village’s been “fortunate” to have a capital reserve fund that it could use to “absorb some of these problems that we are currently confronted with.”
Following the introduction of the tentative budget, the board looked at each line – most recently those dealing with personnel costs.
“Retention of employees is very important but there are other issues that have to be discussed … not to disparage or question anyone’s performance,” Cindrich explained.
Referring to the process and the need for transparency, the mayor noted that board members were slated to receive pay increases that had not been “asked for.”
They were rejecting those, cognizant of the fact that other elected officials would be “impacted” by the decision.
Speaking in general of the adjustments made to the budget, Cindrich opined that village officials, collectively, are “looking to protect taxpayers,” but also trying to retain valued employees.
“We appreciate what they do and we’ll continue to do that,” he said.
Water/Sewer
In his March budget presentation, Brancati pointed out that while Mount Kisco had managed to keep water rates flat since FY 2015-2016, increased operating costs are now forcing it to increase them by 7.5 percent.
The budget also proposed higher quarterly water meter charges due to the fact that it now costs much more to replace the devices.
The average annual water bill will rise to $848 from the current $795.
The good news is that sewer rates will remain unchanged for “the fourth year in a row,” Brancati said.
The average annual sewer bill will be $235.
Capital Improvements
The village has already borrowed $3.6 million to improve the Preston Way Bridge and has secured a $5 million grant through the state’s BridgeNY program for the same project.
Capital projects include $260,000 for paving. That’s besides the $245,000 the village has received in CHIPs, PaveNY, EWR, and POP funding.
Money budgeted for upgrades to the Byram Lake (the village’s main source of drinking water) filtration plant and its dam that will cost $750,000 and $700,000 respectively.
The Dakin/Highland water main is in line for replacement. Budgeted is $400,000. The village also has $200,000 in CDBG funds for the project.
The big sewer project is the replacement of the Branch Brook sewer line, expected to cost a total of $4.5 million.
The village has already borrowed $2.2 million and expects to get $1.5 million in connection fees from New York City as well as a $750,000 WIIA grant.
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