The Warren County Board of Supervisors voted Friday to schedule a November 15th, 2024 public hearing on a 2025 tentative budget of $207.1 million that continues to make investments in county infrastructure and workforce while holding the property tax rate steady.
Overall, higher costs for state-mandated services, retirement and inflation-related expenditures resulted in a 7.4% spending increase for 2025. Revenue increases and efforts by county agencies to reduce their spending will help offset a significant portion of that increase.
Thanks to a $1.1 billion countywide increase in property values, the countywide property tax rate would decrease by 2 cents to $ 3.262 per $1,000 in assessed value in 2025. (Rates per municipality will vary based on equalization rate).
Overall, higher costs for state-mandated services, retirement and inflation-related expenditures resulted in the overall property tax levy increasing by 6.1%. That would exceed the NY State property tax cap, the first time Warren County has exceeded the 2% cap.
Under this tentative budget, Warren County will continue to have one of the lowest property tax rates in New York State, while also having the lowest sales tax percentage (7%) in New York. (The budget includes no plan to increase sales tax rates for 2025.)
Highlights from the tentative budget:
- A significant portion of the spending increase stems from infrastructure repairs for 2023-24 storm damage, increased costs for criminal justice psychiatric exams, juvenile offender detention and employee pension/health insurance.
- Recently signed labor contracts invest in workforce retention by adding $1.7 million in employee wages for 2025.
- No new positions were created, and four vacant full-time positions were deleted.
- The budget appropriates $1.1 million more for road repairs and maintenance in 2025 than in 2024’s budget, and adds expenditures for the Department of Public Works to consolidate waste hauling to save towns in the county money.
Said Frank Thomas, Stony Creek Town Supervisor and Warren County Budget Officer: “Putting together a budget for 2025 was challenging as we continue to confront increased costs coupled with reductions in state funding and reimbursement for state mandates. We asked each county department to cut 5% from their expenditure requests, and a number of them were able to work with us to do it. We appreciate the efforts of our staff to be fiscally prudent.”
Said Kevin Geraghty, Warrensburg Supervisor and Chairman of the Warren County Board of Supervisors: “I would like to thank Budget Officer Frank Thomas and our Budget Team for their efforts in putting together a responsible budget during uncertain economic times. We have tightened our belt to ensure that the tax burden for our residents and businesses remains low, but need to continue to confront unfunded state mandates and Medicaid costs that make up a large portion of our budget.”
Warren County Administrator John Taflan said: “The 2025 budget process has been a difficult one as we work through inflationary pressures and higher costs. We’ll continue to be cautious going forward while maintaining the services that continue to make Warren County a great place to live and visit.”
The Board of Supervisors will consider adopting the tentative budget following a public hearing at the November 15th, 2024, Board of Supervisors meeting, starting at 10 a.m.
A copy of Budget Officer Thomas’ presentation can be found online here. In addition, the presentation of the tentative budget can be watched in an archived video posted online here on YouTube. The November 15th meeting will be livestreamed and videoarchived on the Warren County YouTube page as well.
A complete breakdown of the proposed budget can be found here.