Property Taxes are Getting Higher

The high cost of living in the Mid-Hudson Valley is in large part due to high property taxes, a problem that has grown over the past decade. They are used to fund county, municipal, school and special district budgets that ensure services to residents, but the high rates have placed the Mid-Hudson Valley at a competitive disadvantage with other communities on the edge of the New York metropolitan area and in other sections of the country.

The Mid-Hudson Valley has some of the highest full-value tax rates and are the fastest growing in New York state. These increases have occurred despite the property tax cap, which limits increases in property tax rates to either 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. The seven counties of the Mid-Hudson Valley study area were among the top 10 of New York’s 62 counties with the fastest growing tax rates between 2008-2017. Dutchess saw the highest percentage increase at 62%, followed by Orange at 56% and Putnam at 49%.