CARMEL – It appears as though Putnam County’s mortgage tax receipts which had been falling dramatically since 2021 have turned the corner.
The Putnam Legislature’s Audit Committee received the October 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024 semi-annual mortgage tax breakdown from County Clerk Michael Bartolotti Monday indicating just under $1.3 million was collected during the most recent timeframe, a decline of only $2,000 from the last reporting period of April 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023.
Taxes garnered from mortgage tax revenue are returned to the municipalities where the closings occurred. Past precipitous declines affected towns and villages.
In 2021, mortgage tax revenue totaled more than $6 million and in 2022 with the downturn in the real estate market, revenue dropped like a rock to $2.5 million.
Checks for the $1.3 million collected will soon be in the mail. The Town of Carmel, the county’s largest municipality, will be receiving $398,314 up from $375,095, while Southeast will be receiving a check for $324,990, an increase from the previous $226,353.
Each of Putnam’s remaining municipalities declined. Kent’s mortgage tax receipts totaled $142,963, down from the previous $191,155, while mortgage tax receipts in Patterson, Philipstown and Putnam Valley also dropped.
Patterson’s mortgage tax receipts totaled $124,798 down by $27,000; Philipstown’s numbers dropped by $30,000 from $149,445 to $119, 661; while receipts in Putnam Valley also declined, from $148,974 to $130,295.
Checks are also in the mail to Putnam’s three villages. Cold Spring’s share will be $9,961, a decline from the previous reporting period’s $12,439.
Brewster’s mortgage tax receipts, which had tripled to $48,278 in 2022, turned the corner after falling through the floor a year later from $7,002 to $10,054 while the Village of Nelsonville will be receiving $2,812, a $1,500 decline from the previous period.
