Putnam Legislature Eyes Tax Relief

Reserves $6.5M for potential program
The Putnam County Legislature on Oct. 29 approved a $229 million budget for 2026 that sets aside millions of dollars for potential property tax relief, while including money for food programs and several Philipstown nonprofits.
The Legislature's revision of County Executive Kevin Byrne's $222 million proposal includes a substantial addition: carving out $6.5 million from the county's swollen reserves for a Homeowner Tax Relief Program contingency account.
Byrne may take exception to adding $7 million to his proposed budget. Under the county charter, he can veto changes made by the Legislature, but the lawmakers can override those vetoes.
Legislator Paul Jonke, who proposed the tax-relief idea, is one of several legislators who said this would be the first time a county has implemented such a program. Its purpose, he said, is to give relief to homeowners who, despite cuts by Byrne in the last two budgets, have seen "virtually no impact" on their bills.
"It's going to benefit senior citizens, it's going to benefit veterans," he said. "It's going to benefit the people who need that little bit of help when they get their oil bill or their electric bills."
Funding would come from the county's reserves, or savings. An audit for 2023 found that Putnam ended the year with $144.3 million in reserves, including $78.3 million in "unassigned" funds that had not been designated for specific areas of spending. With sales taxes exceeding projections and Putnam "underspending" by $22 million, the total reserves were $31.8 million higher than in 2022, and the unassigned reserves $7 million higher, according to the audit.
"We're sitting on a lot of money, folks," said Legislator Dan Birmingham, who represents Mahopac and parts of Southeast. "If the public had a true vision of [the amount], they'd rightly be outraged."
Legislator Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and Putnam Valley, sought to amend the proposal to extend it to all residents, not just property owners, predicting that "it's going to be a very hard sell, and it probably won't be legal just to give this tax relief in the form of cash back to owner-occupied homes." She suggested that the county could give money back through other methods, such as grants for energy-efficiency projects, fee waivers and assistance for childcare.
"If we truly want to provide tax relief, we should do it legally and inclusively," said Montgomery.
But Montgomery and other legislators set aside their concerns about legality to support the proposal, which still must be developed. The Legislature also approved a request by Birmingham to set aside $150,000 for food programs, following an earlier approval of $9,700 for Second Chance Foods, based in Brewster.
"They're not the only organization in the county that does help those folks who are experiencing food insecurity," said Birmingham. "We have food pantries in all parts of our county."
The Legislature approved $10,000 grants requested by Montgomery for Boscobel, the Garrison Art Center and Hudson Valley Shakespeare. It also increased County Historian Jennifer Cassidy's position to full-time and her annual salary to $80,000.
What remains unchanged from Byrne's original $222 million proposal is a $45.2 million property-tax levy and a projected $83.5 million in sales-tax revenues. The $1 million reduction in the levy represents the largest cut in the county's history, he said.
The budget also includes $2.3 million for Putnam's inaugural sales-tax-sharing agreement with Nelsonville, Cold Spring, Philipstown and five other towns and the Village of Brewster. Each municipality will receive a share based on population to be used on infrastructure. Philipstown expects to receive $169,000 and Cold Spring and Nelsonville, $50,000 each, the minimum guarantee.
Byrne's budget added new positions, including a counsel for the majority-Republican Legislature and a part-time counsel for Montgomery, its lone Democrat. It also ad...