Maybrook cuts village tax hikes after resident backlash, adopts $5.46 million budget

Maybrook residents won a smaller tax hit after pushing back on the first 2026-27 budget draft. A home assessed at $100,000 will now pay about $85 less in Montgomery and about $49 less in Hamptonburgh than the tentative plan would have required.

The Village of Maybrook Board of Trustees adopted the $5,462,693 spending plan on April 27 at the Maybrook Senior Center, after a public hearing at the Maybrook Government Center and a special budget meeting that reopened the numbers. The adopted budget includes $3,805,218 for the general fund, $510,100 for water, $844,875 for sewer and $302,500 for refuse. It also uses $75,000 in appropriated fund balance and levies $2,520,758.

The final tax rates settled at $21.16 per $1,000 of assessed value in the Montgomery district, up from $18.73, and $12.34 in Hamptonburgh, up from $10.82. Those hikes were still steep, but they were lower than the tentative 17.5 percent and 18.59 percent increases that sparked the backlash after the budget was posted March 20 and aired at the April 20 hearing.

Village officials said about $345,000 in rising costs drove the initial increase, including roughly $167,000 for police operations, $60,000 for health insurance, $50,000 for police retirement, $20,000 for liability insurance and higher utility bills. Central Hudson costs were rising by about $6,000 a month. Mayor Dennis K. Leahy also said some residents were misled by claims that the levy had increased by $777,158, when that figure actually reflected a change in total assessed value.

The final vote showed that resident pressure mattered, but only up to a point. Trustees lowered the tax burden without abandoning the spending plan, leaving Maybrook with a budget that answers the immediate political fight while preserving the larger fiscal problem underneath it.