The County Just Raised Your Taxes 3.7%. Here Is What They Cut to Pay for It.

Here is a number every District 16 family should know: 3.7%.

That is how much the Westchester County Board of Legislators raised the county property tax levy for 2026. They started at 5.27%, which was the County Executive's original proposal. To their credit, they negotiated it down. But they still passed a tax increase on families who are already carrying one of the highest property tax burdens in the entire country.

And here is what they cut to get there: nearly every county department budget by 8%. 180 county positions were eliminated. The county workforce shrank by almost 5%. Nonprofit organizations that serve our most vulnerable neighbors initially faced cuts of about 70%, which legislators eventually negotiated down to around 40%.

Let me put that in plain terms. The county raised your taxes AND cut services at the same time. You are paying more for less. And the families who depend on county-funded nonprofits for food assistance, domestic violence services, and mental health support are absorbing those cuts right alongside you.

Now I want to be honest about something. The county is operating inside a real fiscal crisis. Federal funding cuts, flat sales tax growth, and the loss of the MGM casino project which would have brought roughly $17 million in annual revenue to the county all created a budget hole that was going to be painful no matter what. I understand that.

But understanding the problem and accepting the solution are two different things.

The county had a $197.7 million deficit. Their answer was to raise taxes, gut departments, and eliminate workers. What I want to know is what structural reforms were considered. What long-term waste was identified and eliminated. What programs were evaluated for efficiency versus programs that were simply cut because they were easy targets.

These are the questions a county legislator should be asking loudly and publicly. A legislator who simply votes for the budget and moves on is not doing the job.

When I get to that legislative chamber, I will demand a full zero-based budget review. Not just cuts across the board. A real examination of what this county spends, what it gets for that spending, and what the people of District 16 actually need from their county government.

You deserve better than tax increases and service cuts presented as the only option.

Read my full three-point plan: My 3-Point Plan for District 16