For the first time since the New York State legislature voted to limit annual increases in property taxes, Warren County’s Board of Supervisors will override the cap.
The tax cap, which first was applied to local governments and school districts in 2012, limits annual tax levy increases to the rate of inflation or 2%, whichever is less, with certain exceptions, including a provision that allows municipalities to override the tax cap.
The county’s 2025, $207.1 million budget incorporates a tax levy of $53.1 million, which is a $3.2 million, 6.62% increase over the previous year. In the absence of a vote by the Board of Supervisors, the 2.48% tax cap would have permitted an increase of just $1.2 million.
According to County Administrator John Taflan, roughly half the counties in New York State expect to exceed the tax cap in FY 2025.
“We all see costs escalating for things such as unfunded state mandates,” Taflan said, explaining that of the $53 million to be raised by taxes, more than half – 56% – will be used to execute unfunded mandates.
Other factors driving the decision to override the tax cap include: the rising costs of insurance; pensions; and the county’s share of Medicaid, which costs county taxpayers $11 million a year and absorbs 25% of property tax revenues.
Officials said other costs include: recurring expenses produced by SUNY Adirondack and the public transportation system; cost-of-living-adjustments to salaries and wages; and even of non-discretionary purchases such as asphalt.
“We used to pay $40 per ton of asphalt. We now pay $120 per ton. Those prices won’t be going down,” said Taflan.
According to Stony Creek Supervisor Frank Thomas, who serves as the board’s budget officer, “the unexpected weather events” of December, 2023 and July, 2024, also “cost a considerable amount of money.”
Since January, 2024, the Board has taken $7.7 million from the general fund to repair storm-damaged infrastructure. $750,000 alone went to repairs of the county-owned rail line along the Hudson River, which federal law requires the county to maintain in operating condition.
Exceeding the tax cap was necessary “if the Board was to adopt a budget that funds the county’s needs at a reasonable level,” said Taflan.
Jim Siplon, president of the Warren County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) said he did not assume that exceeding the tax cap was the new normal – and neither would the business community nor the companies that his organization hopes to attract to Warren County.
“I don’t believe the Board of Supervisors is saying this is for the long term. It’s saying this is the right thing to do right now. We understand the challenges faced by county government,” he said.
According to Supervisor Thomas, rising property values and annual increases in the county’s share of sales tax receipts, for the most part, have helped the county keep pace with the escalation in expenses.
The full value of real property in Warren County has risen to $16.2 billion, which allows the 2025 county tax rate to drop by approximately two cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation.
However, sales tax collections have begun to slow, said Thomas. The New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) expects the final results for calendar year 2024 to be much lower than 2023, within the range of -.5% to 2%. NYSAC attributes year over year declines in consumer spending to some combination of inflation, the exhaustion of federal COVID-era benefits, a drop in consumer spending, a cooling labor market and static wage and salary growth.
Despite its stable or rising revenues, the demands upon the county’s budget – higher energy and commodity prices, the costs of repairing storm-damaged infrastructure, growing Medicaid bills as well as unfunded state mandates – were among the reasons why county officials were at least willing to consider raising the sales tax to 8%, which would have generated an additional $25 million for the county’s coffers.
An increase in the sales tax “is off the table for 2025,” said John Taflan, but the costs that compelled the county to exceed the tax cap this year and which are not likely to diminish over time “tie into our discussion about a sales tax increase.”
“Washington County will have to consider it. Saratoga County will. We will,” said Taflan, who noted that Warren, Washington and Saratoga Counties are the last three in New York State to limit sales taxes to 7%.
Additional expenses anticipated by Warren County in 2026 and beyond include complying with new federal and state regulations requiring the resizing of culverts, which will be necessary if the county’s infrastructure is to withstand the extreme weather associated with climate change.
“Climate resiliency requires that culverts be larger. More engineering will be needed and greater studies of wetlands. All that leads to higher costs for us,” said Thomas.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to finalize the 2025 budget on November 15, when it holds a public hearing starting at 10 am in the Municipal Center.
Proposed Budget Includes 31% Raises for County Supervisors
The proposed budget includes raises of $6,318 for all twenty county supervisors, increasing the elected office’s base pay to $26,250.
Warren County Supervisors currently earn an annual salary of $19,932, which officials said is in the bottom third tier of salaries for county supervisors in New York State. Washington County Supervisors are paid $23,000 per year, Saratoga Supervisors, $22,000.
According to officials, Warren County Supervisors make somewhere between $35-40 per hour, depending upon the amount of time devoted to the job. Members of Congress earn $80 per hour, while New York State legislators earn roughly $60 per hour.
Warren County Supervisors last received a pay raise in 2015, and according to some Supervisors, the lack of incremental increases that would keep salaries comparable to those earned by people occupying similar positions is why the pay raise might strike some as excessive.
“I was surprised to learn how long Supervisors had gone without a raise,” said John Taflan, who was hired by the Board to be County Administrator in 2022. “In 2022, they voted to give every county employee a $5,720 boost but omitted to increase their own salaries.”
Taflan said a proposal to increase the Supervisors’ salaries was discussed in 2023 but was never adopted.
“This year, I thought it was even more important that we advance the discussion because the Board includes at least a few Supervisors who have full-time jobs and are required to take time off to serve here. One Supervisor said he loses money by serving, and others say they are contemplating resigning. You shouldn’t have to be retired to be a Warren County Supervisor, just because that’s the only way you can afford to do it. We need to attract people from across the spectrum,” said John Taflan.
