Clarkstown Town Board OKs Draft Budget with 0% Tax Rate Increase

The Clarkstown Town Board approved a tentative $144 million budget at its Tuesday night meeting and set a public hearing on the spending plan for Nov. 4.

And they don’t have to worry about the state-imposed tax cap.

Town Supervisor Alex Gromack revised his preliminary spending plan before he presented it to the board members, cutting just enough to lower the estimated tax rate increase to zero -- not that it had been high earlier in the week, when the working document included a 0.34 percent tax rate increase. More than $7 million dollars in cuts were made to department budgets, he said.

“While unfunded mandates and other external costs increase for the Town, we continue looking for cost savings by reducing the size of our workforce and government in general,” Gromack said in a written statement. “I am committed to reaching further and looking deeper to find ways to save our residents money and still provide the quality of life they expect and deserve living in the Town of Clarkstown.”

Among the expenses the town faces in 2016:

• Health care costs for employees are predicted to rise to $14.9 million, a more than $400,000 increase
• The Town will pay more than $209,000 in MTA tax to the State of New York