The Fiscal Health of the Village has never been better

Posted May 10, 2023
As important as we take public safety and infrastructure maintenance and repair, our role as fiduciaries is sacrosanct. 

We evaluate our success in meeting or coming in below our current 2022-2023 budget and keeping a tight grip on any potential increase in our property taxes. Failure for us is going above New York State's mandatory property tax cap of 2% - we are far below it.

With that in mind, I am pleased to tell you that we came in under budget this year and continue to build our reserves. Because of our oversight, we will not see a jump in property taxes this year, keeping with our commitment as elected officials to keep our property taxes as low as possible. As of May 10, 2023, the board projects that we will come in 6.51% under the adopted 2022-2023 budget.

The outlook is even better for the 2023-2024 budget cycle we completed last week. We are excited to deliver a fiscally conservative budget without sacrificing the services essential to Tuxedo Park’s quality of life. As it stands, 2023-2024 Property Taxes are 1.7621% lower year-over-year. We achieved this decrease without dipping into our unallocated surpluses.

In a recent stress test conducted by the Comptroller’s Office, the Village received an excellent score and is in sound financial health. This year we will ask Standard & Poor’s to increase our credit score from its current rating of AA/Stable (up from AA- in 2021), which will help us borrow at the best available interest rates, as well as our ability to overcome the significant inflationary pressures and increased utility costs we are experiencing.   

I thank my fellow Board members for their input and expertise and single out Deputy Mayor and Budget Director Tinka Shaw for her expertise and daily focus on our budget with the assistance of Elizabeth and John by her side daily. I also thank DPW Supervisor Jeff Voss and Chief Dave Conklin for their solid departmental budgeting and oversight. Finally, I want to thank the Village residents for their support and confidence in our ability to manage their budgets, tax dollars, and investment in our community. We are humbled and honored for the opportunity.