Controlling Property Taxes with Alternative Revenues: Property Taxpayer Protection Act - Part I.

Controlling Property Taxes with Alternative Revenues

Property Taxpayer Protection Act – Part I.

  As I noted in my last E-News, Westchester County taxpayers pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation. As I also noted, the State Legislature has passed several bills that we in Westchester proposed to help provide some relief.

   I call two of these the “Property Taxpayer Protection Act” - Part I and Part II. The two are revenue-raising alternatives to property taxes which will help fund basic and necessary services and reduce or eliminate the need for property tax increases by all local governments.

   In my last E-News, I described the positive impact that monies from a slight increase in the Westchester County sales tax would have on property taxpayers throughout the county.

   In this E-News, I want to highlight the second “Property Taxpayer Protection Act,” which allows local governments to collect a hotel occupancy tax. This small user fee is paid largely by out-of-towners who visit our hotels and benefit from using public services provided by our towns and villages.

   During the 2019 session, the New York State Assembly and Senate passed two of my bills, A5006/S3816 and A2218/S3404 that authorize nine local governments (Town of Greenburgh, Town of Mt. Pleasant and Villages of Tarrytown, Elmsford, Ardsley, Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, and Sleepy Hollow) to collect a hotel/motel occupancy tax of up to 3%. To provide some flexibility, the bills afford each municipality the ability to share a tax collection process.

   Both of these bills ensure that residents in Greenburgh and Mt. Pleasant benefit from this non-property tax revenue like residents of so many other New York towns and cities. This additional revenue eases the burden on local property taxpayers.

   While A5006 provides new authority for the town of Mt. Pleasant, A2218 renews the authority that I was able to obtain in 2017 for the other 8 municipalities, which is set to expire this September.

   The following are the revenues collected from the hotel occupancy tax between 2017 and 2019 within the 92nd Assembly District:

Municipality	2017 (FY)	2018 (FY)	2019 (Half Year)
Village of Ardsley	$60,975	$81,198	$39,408
Village of Dobbs Ferry	No Hotel	$42,553	$89,849
Village of Elmsford	$263,870	$355,387	$147,452
Village of Tarrytown	$437,166	$517,663	$141,355
Town of Greenburgh	$998,333	$1,081,095	$487,185