Montgomery budget error could drive property taxes up 19 percent

A bookkeeping mistake in Montgomery could push village property taxes up by nearly 19 percent, turning a $543,000 budget hole into a hit that residents would feel in their monthly bills.

Mayor Mike Hembury warned residents on May 14 through a Code Red alert after the village discovered that its 2026-27 tax calculation had left out 341 tax exemptions, including veteran exemptions. The adopted tax rate of $20.62 per $1,000 of assessed value was not high enough to cover the budget. To close the gap, the board may have to raise the rate to $23.30, up from last year’s $19.58 and equal to an 18.9 percent increase.

For a typical village homeowner, that correction could mean an extra $40 to $45 a month, or roughly $480 to $540 a year. Hembury said the situation remained fluid and that village officials were still looking at other ways to address the shortfall before making a final decision on the tax rate.

The fault line in the dispute has widened beyond the numbers. The Village of Montgomery’s former accountant first blamed incorrect assessment information from the Town of Montgomery assessor’s office, but the town later said it had repeatedly given correct information to the village clerk and the accounting contractor before Hembury’s alert went out. Dennis R. Ketcham, the town assessor, said the contractor later admitted the mistake was his own and resigned his contract.

The episode lands in a village already under scrutiny for its financial oversight. An April 2025 follow-up by the Office of the New York State Comptroller found Montgomery had made little progress on four of six recommendations from a 2021 audit, and that officials were not aware a corrective action plan existed until the comptroller’s office began its review. The state says the village treasurer is responsible for day-to-day financial activities, while the elected Board of Trustees, made up of the mayor and four trustees, oversees the village in Orange County.

The tax debate is likely to stay in public view as the board moves ahead. Montgomery’s board meets at Village Hall, 133 Clinton Street, and the village’s earlier 2025-26 budget process showed how quickly tax figures can shift. That budget hearing was held April 1, 2025, at the Montgomery Senior Center, 36 Bridge Street, and the board later adopted a tax rate of $19.66, described as an 11.5 percent increase. Hembury said at the time that the budget had initially pierced the state cap by 28 percent before being lowered.