Mid Hudson Times Nov. 11 2015 | Page 3

3 Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, November 11, 2015 Green holds on in New Windsor Mullarkey, Lundstrom re-elected to town board By SHANTAL RILEY [email protected] New Windsor Republicans won across the board in the general election last Tuesday, with town Supervisor George Green capturing roughly 57 percent of the vote. Green is now headed for his fifth term as town supervisor. Orange County Board of Elections unofficial results show Green garnered 1,938 votes compared to 1,477 votes cast for Democrat Richard Ostner on Tuesday. Incumbent Republican council members Pat Mullarkey and Eric Lundstrom received 1,943 and 1,788 votes, respectively. Democratic challengers Kelly Allegra drew 1,450 and Kirk Williams received 1,327 votes. The supervisorial race became heated this year, with Green and his opponent Richard Ostner exchanging jabs over how to expand the tax base and manage an New Windsor tax levy increases by 1.87% By SHANTAL RILEY [email protected] The New Windsor Town Board adopted the town’s 2016 budget this month, approving a $34.3 million spending plan. The budget is accompanied by a property tax levy increase of 1.87 percent. The town tax levy amounts to $14.5 million, according to the Town of New Windsor comptroller, not including fire districts, for which property owners are billed separately. The new budget carries a town-wide tax rate of $28.44 per $1,000 of assessed property value, up from $28.08 this year. A sample property tax bill shows that a single family home assessed at $40,000 – the average assessed value of a home in New Windsor – will pay an average of $1,836 in property taxes in 2016, about $31 more than the previous year. All town residents pay taxes for general, highway and ambulance funds, town Comptroller Jack Finnegan explained, and most pay for garbage, water and sewer districts. The tax levy remains within the state-imposed property tax cap, said Finnegan. As a result of the town remaining within the tax levy limit last year, property owners can expect tax freeze credit refunds by the end of the year, he said. “Next year, we’ll not only have to stay within the tax cap, we’ll have to provide an e