Latimer claims 0% tax increase in 2024 budget. That depends on what taxes are included
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Westchester County Executive George Latimer has billed his 2024 budget proposal as having “a zero tax increase,” but has actually asked county legislators to approve a $2.6 billion spending plan that would increase county property taxes by 2%.
The $14-million increase in county property taxes, to $739 million, would come from increased revenue to the county’s sewer and water system.
Latimer made his budget presentation Thursday in a packed room on the ninth floor of the Michaelian Office Building in White Plains, with civic and business leaders joining county department heads and legislators to hear the Rye Democrat lay out his plan for the upcoming year.
Budget highlights include:
$25 million to expand the county’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure at county and municipal government sites;
up to $100 million to invest in affordable housing programs;
$1.3 million in food assistance;
a $1.5 million grant program for downtown improvements around Westchester;
a 4.5% increase in county sales tax revenue
Latimer warned, however, that financial dark clouds gathering in Albany could reduce state aid later this year.
“The budget for 2024 reflects a positive outlook for Westchester,” he said. “But I have to be very clear: the state budget process that's ahead is problematic.”
Lauding Latimer’s budget was Tim Foley, CEO of the Building and Realty Institute of Westchester, who has supported the expansion of affordable housing opportunities throughout the county.
“At a time when the housing shortage has become a statewide and national issue, the proposed budget again solidifies Westchester County and County Executive Latimer’s leadership on this issue,” Foley said.
Latimer's no-tax increase narrative
Latimer’s insistence that county property taxes will not rise in 2024 is based on a narrative that exempts increases in sewer and water property taxes, which comprise 27% of the county’s proposed tax levy for 2024.
Latimer said he does not include more than a quarter of Westchester property taxes in his calculation because there are some Westchester property owners who don't pay sewer or water taxes. He said homeowners paid at different levels, depending on the district where their property is located.
"Each of those special districts — sewer, water and refuse — serve some portion of Westchester, but not all of it," he said in a streamed press conference. "If you live in the northeastern part of the county, you're not part of a sewer district. So everything I've said applies to you. If you live where I do, I live in the Blind Brook sewer district, but the needs of the Blind Brook sewer district are different from the needs of the New Rochelle district, and they are different from the needs in Yonkers."
He said his no-tax increase stance is true, if viewed as a generalization.
"So the generalization of there being no increase in taxes is an accurate representation, with the special districts having different levels of changes in revenues that are required," he said.
It’s a narrative embraced by a range of community leaders who were quoted in Latimer’s five-page press release handed out at the press conference. They included Business Council of Westchester President Marsha Gordon, Westchester County Association President Michael Romita, and Nonprofit Westchester Executive Director Jan Fisher.
“Maintaining the same county property tax levy as 2023, which marks the fifth consecutive year without a levy increase, is commendable and benefits all Westchester residents and nonprofit and for-profit businesses,” said Fisher.
Romita commended Latimer for “holding the line” on property taxes that pay for the county's operating budget, while county property taxes for the county’s “special districts,” which include sewer and water districts, aren’t uniform for every Westchester taxpayer.
“I live in Harrison and get a county tax bill that lists the special district that applies to me,” he said. “Those taxes aren’t consistent with all taxpayers.”
Municipalities send out tax bills
Municipalities send out county tax bills, with the various county property tax levies — for the operating budget and special districts — included in one bill, said New Rochelle spokeswoman Kathy Gill.
Dan Branda, a Somers Republican who lost his bid to oust Board of Legislators Chair Vedat Gashi in Tuesday’s election, raised the issue in his campaign of Latimer’s claim that property taxes had fallen in 2023 when in fact they had gone up when you included county sewer, water, and refuse property taxes.
He said Latimer’s latest budget plan again increased county property taxes.
“Why does George Latimer continue to lie about not raising property taxes?” said Branda. “No one wants to admit they are falling for Latimer’s lies.”
Latimer spokesperson Catherine Cioffi said Branda wasn’t speaking the truth, but declined to specify what was untrue.
“Why is Dan Branda peddling his lies – the voters have already rejected those lies and him,” she said.
Rosy sales tax projections
The proposed county budget is based on rosy projections for county sales taxes. The budget counts on an increase of 4.5% in sales tax revenue, from $889 billion projected in 2023 to $939 million in 2024.
That’s a significantly larger increase than occurred in 2023, according to the budget document. The county budgeted $913 million in sales taxes for 2023, but updated projections in the budget document put the sales-tax take at $898 million. That's $15 million less than expected, and an increase of only $8 million from 2022.
The proposal for 2024, meanwhile, calls for an increase of $41 million, which is five times larger than the increase in 2023. That robust growth runs counter to the reality behind the counter in Westchester's retail world. Sales tax revenues in Westchester were down 0.5 percent during the first three quarters of 2023, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli recently reported. Rockland was even worse, with a 2.4% decline, with Putnam's 8.4% sales tax growth leading the region.
Continued flat growth in Westchester sales tax revenue would blow a huge whole in Latimer's "zero increase" budget. Every $5.5 million in sales tax revenue is equal to a 1 percent hike in the county tax levy.
Cioffi did not respond to questions about the projections on Thursday.
Soule on Monday said that the 2024 projections added in $12 million saved by ratepayers in January and February 2023 during county's the suspension of the sales tax for heating oil and electricity. Adding that back to the 2024 estimates boosts the base to $910 million, and then projects sales tax growth of 3.2%, or $29 million.
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David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester County NY faces tax hike; George Latimer states otherwise
