$44M CITY BUDGET REDUCES TAX RATES
Mayor’s spending plan for 2019 includes money for housing, fire gear, road paving
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Mayor Steve Noble’s proposed city budget for the coming year totals nearly $44 million, maintains the current property tax levy and reduces tax rates.
Noble presented his $43,976,477 budget Wednesday evening at City Hall. The plan calls for increasing spending by $1,456,909, or 3.4 percent, over this year’s adopted budget of $42,519,568. It would use $904,858 from the city’s fund balance to offset expenses.
The property tax levy in Noble’s proposal would remain at $17,650,940 for the fourth year in a row.
The budget still must be reviewed and voted on by the Common Council.
“This is now my third budget that we’ve been able to show, time after time after time, that we can do the good work, we can care about our neighbors, we can be innovative and we can also lower taxes,” Noble said. “And I think that’s a critical component of any city government.”
Under Noble’s proposal, the property tax rate for homestead, or residential, properties would decrease 20 cents, to $9.74 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The nonhomestead, or commercial, rate would decrease $1.80 to $15.59 per
$1,000.
That means a residential property assessed at $150,000 would pay $1,461 in city taxes next year, Noble said.
The budget also sets aside $767,281 in contingency funds to cover nonrecurring expenses and the cost of settling an employee contract with the Kingston Police Benevolent Association, Noble said.
Noble said his proposed budget also includes a number of initiatives, such as a $3 million investment in quality housing in the city. That investment would fund operations of the Kingston City Land Bank and the establishment of a new office for the city’s Office of Economic and Community Development in Midtown, he said.
The funding comes from
Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley.
Noble said the funding also would help rehabilitate 36 city properties.
The proposed budget also includes $150,000 to purchase another set of turn-out gear for Kingston firefighters, as well as a nearly $1 million investment in road paving in 2019, Noble said. He said the proposal also includes
a $100,000 capital improvement plan for upgrades and new amenities at several of the city’s parks, including Kingston Point Park, the Kingston Dog Park, Barmman Park and Hutton Park.
There also is funding set aside to establish an administrative position in the city Planning Department to support historic preservation and the city’s Historic
Landmarks Preservation Commission, Noble said.
Noble also said he will ask the Common Council in January to approve $500,000 to renovate the Volunteer Firemen’s Hall and Museum on Fair Street.
“It’s a historic building in the heart of Uptown, and it cannot be lost,” Noble said. “It needs to be restored. It needs to be renovated.”