POUGHKEEPSIE – When Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro presents his proposed 2017 budget on Thursday, it will cut the property tax levy and reduce the property tax rate paid by taxpayers.
Molinaro announced that bit of information on Tuesday, noting it will be the third consecutive year of reduction in the county’s property tax levy, keeping the county under the state’s property tax cap as it has for the last four years.
His spending plan, which will be subject to county legislature approval or modification, will focus on “minimizing the tax burden, ensuring fiscal stability and growing our economy.”
The county executive said he will remain focused on shared services and consolidation, efficiency measures and “aggressive efforts” to control spending and capitalize on grants and other funding resources.
While this all sounds encouraging, Molinaro is still pushing for mandate relief from the state whether it is removing the mandate cost or providing the funding to cover the costs of delivering the program or service.
Among the mandate relief he will be pushing when he introduces his budget, Molinaro will seek repeal of the MTA payroll tax. Dutchess government must pay $400,000 in 2017, bringing to $2.2 million, the cost to the county since it was enacted by the state legislature in 2009.
Molinaro will also call for an increase in revenue sharing for state
DMV services provided by the county. The state requires counties to operate
motor vehicle offices. The state keeps 87.3 percent of the income while
the counties receive 12.7 percent. A bill in the senate would increase
the local share to 25 percent.
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