Photo by N. Bower

By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

March 25, 2026: Per New York State law, the Village has filed the tentative 2026-2027 budget.

As proposed, the budget requires a tax rate of $3.50 per thousand dollars of assessed evaluation, resulting in a 1.11% decrease in the property tax rate next fiscal year. The following chart demonstrates in real dollars, the impact of this proposed tax rate decrease for a resident who received the following 2026 increases in assessed valuation.

*For a single-family home (median) with $100,000 increase in assessed value.

**For a townhouse with a $70,000 increase in assessed value and now valued at $1,500,000 the tax increase would be $188.

***For a single-family home with a $50,000 increase in assessed value and now valued at $5,000,000 the tax decrease would be $23.

The Budget Calls for the following:

-Total general fund appropriations of $21,707,721, an increase of $430,146 or 2% from the 2025-26 adopted budget.

-Non-real property tax revenues of $7,192,113, an increase of $100,000 from last year.

-Use of $700,000 from assigned fund balance.

-Use of $200,000 from tax stabilization reserve.

-Use of $100,000 in assigned fund balance for health insurance expenditures.

-Use of $75,000 in assigned fund balance for pension fund expenditures.

-A real estate tax levy increase of $336,834 or 2.58%.

-A taxable value of $3,817,162,973, an increase of $137,780,562 from last year.

-A general fund contribution of $1,824,107 to the library fund, an increase of $100,183 or 5% above last year.

Noteworthy items in the FY2026-27 Tentative Budget include:

-Continued Strong Growth in the Village’s Tax Base.

-Growth in Non-Real Property Tax Revenues Largely Attributable to Building Permit Issuance for both Commercial and Residential Properties, Strong Sales Tax, Parking Permits.

-An Increase in both the Employee and Police Retirement System Rates.

-A Budgeted Double Digit Rate Increase for Liability Insurance.

-A Decrease in Debt Service of $324,579 due to the Maturity of a 2014 Bond.

-Continued Healthy Fund Balance Used in Accordance with our Fund Balance Policy.

-No Change in Number of Full-Time Staff Positions.

The proposed budget does not exceed the allowable New York State tax cap levy limit of $336,834 and is therefore compliant with the tax cap law.  No Village Board tax cap override is required and a public hearing to override the cap has not been scheduled at this time.

OVERVIEW

Taxable value this year is up almost 4% over 2025 attributable to the continued strong growth in the housing market.  Below is a chart showing the increase in the median single-family sales prices over the last several years.

Note: These median prices reflect sales from the data collection periods of July 1- June 30 each year.

As a result of these increases and the corresponding assessment adjustments the Village’s taxable (full) value has grown significantly during this period.  While the rate of increase appears to be showing signs of slowing, the market remains strong and continues to be influenced by a limited available inventory on the market. A 10-year history of our taxable value is shown below.  

REVENUE REVIEW

Non-real property tax revenues are budgeted to increase by $100,000 to $7,192,113 over the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Revenues significantly outperformed budgeted during a three-year period from 22/23 to 24/25 due in large part to unanticipated NYP-Lawrence Hospital building permit fees and the continued strong sales tax revenue driven in large part by the local share of the additional 1% County Sales Tax approved by NYS in late 2019. Despite the concerns over the impacts of inflation during the post-Covid years, sales revenue has continued to grow.  We have budgeted $1,800,000 in sales tax revenue for the new fiscal year, and this will once again represent our single largest non-real property tax revenue source.  We continue to follow the sources of sales tax growth carefully. 

Thanks to the renewed focus on shopping locally, sales tax revenue has steadily increased from $1,503,394 in fiscal year 2021/2022 to $1,850,000 in 2025/2026 to our conservative projection of $1,800,000 in the tentative 2026/2027 budget.

Parking Permit Revenue

In the last year pre-Covid we collected $1,032,661. With revenues of $670,395, $867,137, and $970,469 in the Covid years, it has taken almost 4 years to return to pre-Covid levels, though the good news is that revenues have now stabilized at our $1 million hence our projection of $990,900 in the proposed budget.

EXPENSE REVIEW

Proposed Appropriations

Proposed appropriations are up by a lean 2.02% due in large part to the maturing of a 2014 bond reducing our annual net principal and interest payments by $312,218 to $2,486,513 for 2026-27. 

Debt Service

Our debt service has remained stable despite our commitment to infrastructure improvements and a significant number of capital projects with a projected cost of $2,486.513 in the new budget.

General Government Support

Liability Insurance – Premiums are budgeted for $460,000, an increase of 10% over last year. 

Employee Benefits

Health insurance – We have budgeted an additional $150,000 in the general fund (in addition to $35,000 in the library fund) to account for an anticipated 8% increase in premiums.

FUND BALANCE

The Village continues to maintain a very healthy fund balance.  While the proposed budget uses just over $1,000,000 of assigned fund balance, the Village has generally not needed to use this at year’s end given our conservative/cautious budgeting practices. 

This has enabled the Village to use fund balance for a variety of capital projects while maintaining our AAA bond rating, Moody’s highest assigned to municipal governments.

CAPITAL PROJECTS

Primary Projects Underway or Planned for 2026-27

-Reconstruction of Milburn Retaining Wall

-DPW Rooftop Solar Installation

-Crawford Drainage Improvements

-R-O-W Tree Planting Program

-Route 22 at Pondfield Road Pedestrian Signal Improvements (NYSDOT)

-Sidewalk and Curbing Repairs/Replacement – various locations

-Catch Basin Installations – various locations

-Street Repaving – various locations

-Historic Street Signs Replacement – various locations

-Sanitary Sewer Lining – various locations

-Hawthorne to Hemlock Stormwater Repairs

Internal Departmental Projects

-Implementation of new PD Records Management System

-Implementation of Building Department’s Municity Software

-Upgrades to Village Hall/PD Security Systems

-Village Hall Interior Painting

-Village Hall Drains

I am once again so thankful for our entire dedicated workforce and everyone’s effort to provide the extra level of personal service our community deserves, and we are especially fortunate to have a Village Administrator and Village Treasurer committed to adherence to a financial plan, formulated in conjunction with the Trustees.