Greenport property taxes up nearly 17%, busting state cap

Greenport Village officials approved a budget that pierces the state’s tax cap and will increase property taxes by nearly 17%. 

The $12.2 million budget, which takes effect June 1, exceeds the cap to account for a $150,000 gap in funding.

Village officials attributed the 16.97% tax levy increase to inflation and said extra funds are needed to make infrastructure improvements to municipal assets including Mitchell Park Marina, McCann’s Campground and several beach facilities. 

It also accounts for $2 hourly raises for full-time village employees.

“It became very clear that there were things that needed to be taken care of,” said Mayor Kevin Stuessi, who took office last month. “The village actually had to put a hold on any spending the first of May because we were effectively out of money.”

The increase translates to a $3.50 increase per $100 of assessed valuation, according to village treasurer Stephen Gaffga, who noted that the village taxes 0.7% of a property's assessed value.

For a house assessed at $500,000, that translates to an increase of $122.50 annually. 

Gaffga said the village sent out 1,061 tax bills for the upcoming fiscal year. 

“Under the previous administration, we wanted to keep the tax rate low, but we also started to strangle ourselves,” said trustee Mary Bess Phillips, a board member since 2009. “Maintenance is a big thing that just kind of got put on the back burner.”

The administration of former Mayor George Hubbard Jr. raised taxes by 6% during his eight years in the role. He said in an interview that officials frequently sought grants to offset the cost of projects that spanned road repaving and reconstructing curbs and sidewalks to hardening power lines and buying new playground equipment.

Hubbard also said many elderly people live in the village and if money wasn't needed for something specific, his philosophy was "don’t just raise taxes for the sake of going up two, three percent and bankroll the money."

This year the village also has to pay the unforeseen cost of $60,000 to $70,000 for the abatement of lead paint found in March on carousel horses in Mitchell Park — a project officials said should be finished by this weekend.

Stuessi said infrastructure concerns in the village include a bulkhead wall in the village marina he said is in “critical” danger of failing.

The mayor said a top priority will be to create a capital improvement and maintenance plan to evaluate the village's needs, from aging municipal buildings to basic services like collecting garbage from bins downtown and in park facilities.

Ultimately, Stuessi hopes to create an economic development job and fill it with an employee whose primary focus would be seeking grants for the village.

 “We’re very much working hand in hand with the community to do what we need to do to make the improvements people are asking for and to maintain our physical spaces," he said.