POUND RIDGE, N.Y. - Pound Ridge has given the green light to a town budget that’s managed to stay under the state tax cap for the ninth year in a row.
Finance director Steve Conti presented the numbers, a public hearing was held, and the $10,806,282 million spending plan was unanimously approved at the Town Board’s Dec. 2 meeting.
That represents an increase of $164,220 or 1.5 percent over the current 2025 budget of $10,642,062.
The current year’s tax levy is $6,863,505.
Under state tax cap law, the town would have been allowed to raise the levy by $223,093 or 2.6 percent more to $7,086,598 in 2026.
Instead, it set its new levy at $7,038,877, which represents an increase of $175,372, or 1.9 percent, above 2025’s.
(Over the past nine years, the average tax rate increase was 2.33 percent.)
Conti pointed out that the town’s budgets in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2017 did have to override the tax cap.
Board member Alison Boak -- saying she’d read in the local press that “a lot” of towns surrounding Pound Ridge were voting to override their tax caps -- asked Conti to provide for “a little context” for the public’s edification.
“I know that one of the biggest drivers has been health insurance,” he responded, noting that NYSHIP (New York State Health Insurance Program) was going up by 9 percent.
“It’s really tough to stay under 2 percent when you're getting hit with a 9 percent increase in medical costs, Conti added.
Pound Ridge’s 2026 levy remains under the tax cap by $47,721.
Municipalities can go higher than the base tax cap of 2 percent (that’s versus the maximum allowable) after things such as growth, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and carryovers are factored in.
It wasn’t an easy task staying under the cap, noted both Conti and Supervisor Kevin Hansan because of medical insurance, retirement, and other costs that are out of the town’s control.
Health insurance accounts for 13 percent of appropriations; New York State retirement contributions, 5.4 percent.
On the revenue side of things considered “major drivers” of the budget are sales and mortgage taxes. The former makes up about 35.2 percent of the 2026 budget, while the latter accounts for 8.7 percent.
“It’s a lot of work going through each department to understand their needs,” Hansan said, thanking the town’s financial team and board colleagues. “It’s not always fun saying no to them because they have desires to do certain things and sometimes you just make the decisions.”
This year’s tax rate of $17.83 will increase to $18.17 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
That means that the average household will be paying $54.01 more in town taxes next year, Conti said.
PUBLIC SPEAKS UP
The cost of defending the town against various lawsuits was raised at the budget hearing.
Resident John Nathan asked where he could find the numbers in the budget since, he said, “the supervisor made a point of talking about legal fees in his last newsletter.”
Nathan, an attorney, had sued the town last year, alleging that local officials had violated the state’s Open Meetings Law by not discussing the pros and cons of recreational cannabis dispensaries and/or consumption sites in public.
The town and SMMB, which is doing business as Purple Plains, a cannabis dispensary in Scotts Corners, moved to dismiss the lawsuit.
This past June, that motion was granted by a Westchester County Supreme Court judge.
In his Nov. 21 newsletter, Supervisor Kevin Hansan announced that Nathan had appealed that ruling.
“The town spent nearly $50,000 defending the original lawsuit, and we are disappointed, though not surprised by his decision to appeal,” Hansan wrote.
(The town has until Dec. 17 to respond to that appeal.)
According to Nathan, there are several other lawsuits pending against the town, and he wanted to know what it was budgeting for legal fees.
Conti told him that $40,000 had been set aside, but added that there is a total of $120,000 in a contingency account that the town could tap into if needed.
Nathan doubted the $40,000 would be enough.
Meanwhile, John McCown, who had unsuccessfully tried to unseat Hansan as supervisor in last November’s elections, wondered why the 2026 budget hadn’t broken out details of health care benefits for the supervisor, Town Board members, and the town’s two attorneys.
Saying he didn’t think most folks knew that the officials get health insurance, McCown added that he wasn’t “knocking that” but thought it should be “disclosed.”
TRAILS WORKING GROUP
The Town Board also unanimously approved the formation of a Trails Working Group, which will be an ad hoc subcommittee of its Sustainability Committee.
Its mission will be to advise, support, and collaborate with the town in the planning, stewardship, and promotion of a “safe, accessible, and well-maintained trail network for public use and enjoyment.”
The committee will aim to enhance “community wellness, outdoor recreation, environmental awareness, and conservation,” according to the resolution.
It will be composed of 10 volunteer members. There will be a chairperson, two representatives from the Sustainability Committee, two appointees from the Old Pound Ridge Committee, and one appointed each from the Conservation Board, the Recreation Committee, the Pound Ridge Land Conservancy, and the Pound Ridge Partnership.
There will also be an “at-large” member, preferably, the town said, with relevant experience in trail development, conservation, recreation, and fundraising.
Terms for all members will be one year and meetings will be scheduled depending on the workload.
The board turned down a request from Conservation Board chair Melinda Avellino for two appointees instead of just one.
Councilman Dan Paschkes was concerned that the group was large as it was and that adding more appointed members could make it “unwieldy and unworkable.”
That’s not to say, he pointed out, that Conservation Board folks can’t attend -- and offer input at -- any of the group’s public meetings.
“People can volunteer to help without being appointed as a formal member,” Paschkes explained.
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