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BRONXVILLE, N.Y. At its Monday night meeting, the Bronxville Village Board scheduled a public hearing on its plan to enact legislation to override the 2 percent tax cap legislation.
Mayor Mary Marvin said that the village must put a law on the books ahead of time, in order to ensure the option of overriding the new cap if necessary.
"There are 200 unfunded state mandates that we must follow," Marvin said. "Due to the uncertainties we face such as limitations in state aid and additional unexpected mandates, we felt this is the prudent thing to do."
Tax cap legislation was signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June and went into effect on Jan. 1. The law prevents school districts and municipal governments from increasing the tax levy to residents by more than 2 percent. Tax levies are connected to the amount of revenue a public institution will raise through real property taxes and is not the actual tax rate that appears on taxpayers' annual bill.
Several Westchester municipalities have already passed laws overriding the tax cap levy, including the village of Croton-on-the-Hudson and Ossining, and the Town of Bedford.
It's very frustration that we even need to do this, Marvin said. This mandate is discouraging municipalities from fixing a bridge or repairing old pipes, as capital improvements are not exempt the way they are for school districts.
Village Administrator Harold Porr pointed out that the village has had a zero percent increase for the last two years in a row, but stopped short of revealing if that might happen again during the 2012-13 budget.
Residents will have an opportunity to address the village board on March 12 on the issue.
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