The Wallkill town board on Nov. 13 unanimously adopted a budget of close to $45 million for 2025, up by around $2 million from the current year.
The budget covers the town’s main operating and highway funds as well as over two dozen special districts for sewer, water, lighting, and other services.
Between the two townwide funds of main operation and highway, the property tax levy rises by around 6 percent to $14 million next year.
According to a tax rate schedule attached to the adopted budget, a single-family homeowner in town will most likely see an increase in town tax of between $50 and $70, and a condo owner can expect an increase of between $25 and $45, depending on the age and size of their property.
“I’d like to be conservative for the benefit of the town. That is what people want—people want their taxes to be stable,” Wallkill Supervisor George Serrano told The Epoch Times.
“And one thing I really liked was that the board worked together. At the end of the day, we are working together for the benefit of the town.”
After Serrano released his version of the budget in the fall, town board members raised the amounts in several revenue lines, including sales and mortgage taxes, and added new expenses for a police officer, police cars, and road paving.
“The budget as presented was a solid budget. We felt the anticipated revenue was very conservative, and it was safe to increase that only for the purposes of adding these additional items,” said Deputy Supervisor and Councilman Eric Valentin at the Nov. 13 meeting.
“Our town is growing in leaps and bounds, and with growth comes positive things and, at times, unfortunately, negative things, so in order to provide a continuous good quality of life for our residents, we need to support and staff the police department.”
The department currently employs 54 officers, according to Serrano.
Councilmen Mark Coyne and Eric Johnson said their wards had relatively longer roads than others, which cost more to repave, on top of additional expenses for culvert replacements.
Johnson said at the meeting: “In any good budget—anybody knows this that runs a household—you always have to underestimate what you are going to get in revenue and overestimate your expenses, so at the end of the year, you have a little money left in your savings account.
“If I were to look at this as my household budget, I’d be very proud to say that it’s done well.”
Councilman Steve Vinella, who was elected last year, said at the meeting that he learned much from fellow board members in his first budgeting experience and appreciated the teamwork.
“One of the things I did notice is that the council here was diligent in trying to keep the tax increase under 2 percent, which I believe they definitely did,” Vinella said.
Following revenue line adjustments by town board members, the property tax levy across general and highway funds dropped by about $16,000.
Both water and sewer rates are up by $0.05 per thousand gallons in the budget.
Over the past 10 years, the town’s total assessed value has increased by 10 percent to over $776 million, according to Serrano at the Oct. 24 budget presentation.
Ongoing development projects in town include the Tower Ridge department complex on Route 211, Candlewood Hotel on East Main Street, a new boutique hotel on Goshen Turnpike, a new Starbucks store on Crystal Run Road, and two new Stewart’s shops, Serrano said.
He highlighted continued or enhanced investments in town programs such as speed bumps, street cleaning, LED stop signs, dollar buses, and the junior police academy, as well as new grant-funded initiatives such as a walking path in the Circleville Park.
Serrano also noted a list of community events to celebrate the growing and diversifying town.
“These are events that showcase what this community has to offer,” he said at the budget presentation. “The Chinese community, the Latino community ... it just shows you how diverse this community has gotten, and we have to keep that.”
According to U.S. Census data, the population of Wallkill grew by 10 percent to over 30,000 between 2010 and 2020.
