Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne presented his fiscal year 2025 budget proposal Thursday evening.
The Republican will present his $205 million spending plan a public town hall forum on the budget next week – a first for the Hudson Valley county.
Byrne tells WAMC's Lucas Willard his proposal to be unveiled next hour continues to lower property taxes:
What we have been able to do is continue all of the tax cuts that we implemented last year in our 2024 budget. So, what was really special about 2024, we cut the tax levy for the first time in the budget. Cut taxes in the budget, first time in 25 years. We drove the tax rate down from 3.12% to 2.85% in 2024. That was the lowest tax rate in 15 years in Putnam County, and we opted into a sales tax exemption for clothing and footwear under $110 which is where, quite frankly, sales tax, while very important and critical source of revenue for county government, it is a regressive tax for those with lower income and lesser means. So, by affording that sales tax exemption, it gives some more meaningful relief as people suffer through record inflation. The 2025 budget continues all those tax cuts. It keeps the tax levy flat, offers zero tax increase. It drives the tax rate down to its lowest level in 18 years, now being proposed at 2.7%. It continues the sales tax exemption throughout the entire year, next year, and all those things offer meaningful relief. And we've done it because we've been able to prioritize our spending, we're enhancing services, and we're being smart with our tax dollars.
Now, how about growth in the county? Is there any growth that's contributing to the ability to keep taxes flat or lower them?
Absolutely, I would say the predominantly sales tax. So, what a lot of government leaders may not tell you, and they should, is when you have painful inflation that's hitting us all from every corner, it also drives up sales tax revenue because the purchase of those items are higher, and then that percentage of the sales tax goes up too. Online sales has been a game changer for county governments, especially for counties the size of Putnam, where we don't have a city. We do have a commercial tax base, but it's not the same or comparable to our neighboring counties. in Westchester or in Dutchess County. So online sales is very much a game changer as far as revenue, and we were able to leverage other sources of revenue, whether it's federal or state aid, what we do get. It certainly doesn't pay for all the unfunded mandates, but the money that we do get with support from our state representatives, we're grateful.
So, County Executive Byrne, you will be presenting your budget to the legislature tonight, but next week, you're holding a public forum where the public can come in and ask questions. Why are you holding that event where folks can possibly ask some tough questions?
Well, as I said, the core tenets of this administration, affordability, accountability and accessibility. And accessibility, to me means many different things. We've implemented, handicap ramps, curb cuts. I very much like to follow through on former county executive Marc Molinaro, Dutchess County’s, Think Differently Initiative, but it also means being accessible to the people you're elected to serve our residents, our citizens, our taxpayers. So, I do that in multiple ways. We've built out a taxpayer transparency website for our budget, a budget transparency website, which is going to be going live today and tomorrow for people to view it. But I also feel that I don't just need to present to the legislature at a public meeting. I want to make myself accessible directly to the people. So next week, after people have had at least a week to review the budget, they'll have the opportunity to corner me, ask me questions and grill me so I can let them know we're being we're being, good fiscal stewards of their tax dollars and making sure that the critical services they need are there for them.
