White Plains’ Proposed $210.3M Budget, 1.86% Tax Hike Detailed

By Bailey Hosfelt 

White Plains residents will likely see a 1.86 percent tax increase in the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget proposed earlier this month. 

Budget Director James Arnett presented the $210.3 million proposed budget to Common Council members and White Plains Mayor Tom Roach at a special meeting/work session on April 18.

With the 1.86 percent tax increase, homeowners of a medium-assessed residence would need to pay an additional $58 per year in property taxes. 

The budget will mark the 11th fiscal year White Plains has developed an annual budget in accordance with the state’s tax levy cap. Arnett noted that the city has maintained an Aa1 credit rating since 1988.

“One of the goals of this and every budget is to maintain that rating through sound fiscal practices,” Arnett said. 

Expense appropriations in the proposed budget total $189.8 million, which is a 2.8 percent increase from the 2021-2022 adopted budget. 

“The major factors contributing to the increase are programs such as summer camps and after school services that were reduced due to safety restrictions during the pandemic that are starting back up, increases in health insurance rates charged by New York State for employees and retirees, personnel costs, additional gasoline and utility costs and other inflation-related expenses,” Arnett explained.

Arnett explained that the city continues to look for cost efficiencies wherever possible, including analyzing a position that becomes vacant prior to filling it and green initiatives such as LED lighting and leasing property for solar development.

In the proposed budget, there will be no cuts to services.

“We can continue to fund the same high level of services that we have in the past,” Arnett said. 

Property taxes remain the city’s largest revenue source at 35.4 percent. Sales sax is the second highest at 23.7 percent, and parking revenues account for 13.5 percent. 

Federal, state and local aid accounts for only about three percent of total revenues in the proposed budget, Arnett noted — a notable decrease from the 10 percent received in aid in the current year’s adopted budget due to funds received through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. 

White Plains is set to receive $5.5 million in New York State Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding, which is the same amount the city has received over the past decade. 

As is the case with most municipalities, salaries and employee benefits account for the majority of White Plains’ expenses, sitting at just over 71 percent.

In the proposed budget, there are dollars earmarked for six new positions: three police officers, two firefighters and a code enforcement officer in the Department of Public Works.

Commissioners from the Department of Public Safety, Public Works, Parking and Traffic and Recreation and Parks each detailed their respective budgets at the work session. Many noted that inflation has played a role in rising expenses — ranging from the cost of streetlights to t-shirts for summer camps.

The proposed budget was submitted to the Common Council ahead of the April 4 regularly-slated meeting, and a public hearing on the topic has been set for May 2. 

The budget must be adopted by charter by the Common Council by or before May 30, as the city’s new fiscal year will begin on July 1. 

Bailey Hosfelt

Bailey has journalism experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties and New York City on topics related to LGBTQ+ issues, women’s rights, climate change, the environment, and local politics. They have been a full-time reporter with Examiner Media since July 2021. Read more details from Bailey’s bio here. Read Bailey’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/baileyhosfelt/