The proposed annexation of 507 acres from the Town of Monroe into the Village of Kiryas Joel will have little to no effect on property tax rates for town and Monroe-Woodbury School District landowners, according to a preliminary analysis by Monroe Town Comptroller Peter Martin.
Martin explained his findings to about 30 people during a public discussion Wednesday evening scheduled by Monroe Town Supervisor Harley Doles to provide “politics-free answers” to questions about the “true cost of annexation.”
Outside the meeting, more than 100 people assembled in the Monroe Senior Citizens’ Center parking lot for an “anti-meeting” organized by United Monroe, which opposes the annexation.
“Quite simply, we knew that we would not be hearing the truth inside that meeting and we knew the reason why the meeting was called in the first place was to spew more propaganda to attempt to confuse the public and present misinformation,” United Monroe’s Emily Convers said.
Convers told residents at the “anti-meeting” that United Monroe has hired Zarin & Steinmetz of White Plains to represent the ad hoc citizens group legally. She said the law firm will send a letter on Friday to the state’s Department of Conservation stating the Village of Kiryas Joel is not qualified to serve as the lead agency in the mandated State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) of the proposed annexation.
The Town of Monroe and the Village of Kiryas Joel are both vying for sole lead agency status in orchestrating the SEQR. The DEC, which has already rejected the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District’s request to be lead agency, is expected to decide this month whether the town or the village will lead the analysis.
On December 27, Kiryas Joel notified Monroe that it had received an annexation petition from 141 owners of 177 parcels spanning 507 acres seeking to join the village. According to Monroe’s town assessor’s office, the 177 parcels have a composite taxable value of over $8.3 million, almost 4 percent of the town’s total assessed property valuation. Most of the land is unoccupied and west of Kiryas Joel in an area now zoned by the town for minimum three-acre residential lots.
With at least 22,000 people now living within the 700-acre plus village, many fear an additional 500 acres at existing multi-family residential zoning within Kiryas Joel could add another 15,000 residents, creating a two-square-mile city of 40,000 residents in an otherwise suburban area. Even before the proposed annexation surfaced, the Orange County Planning Department projected the village’s population would double by 2025. This annexation, opponents say, would dramatically accelerate and exceed that population forecast.
Martin, a former town councilman who now serves as town comptroller, said if the 177 parcels are annexed into the village, a portion of taxes these landowners now pay to the town will go to the village but, otherwise, they will still pay town taxes for town-wide services. He said the town would lose $12,848 in annual property tax revenues and $11,579 in yearly highway tax revenues for a combined total under $25,000.
Since the town collected about $3.5 million in property tax revenues in 2013, the loss of $25,000 is negligible, Martin said. “The proposed annexation will not affect the tax rate and, therefore, taxpayers will see no effect in their property taxes,” he said.
Martin said the annexation could benefit town financially. For instance, he said, roads in the annexed area will become Kiryas Joel’s responsibility, reducing Monroe’s road budget while generating revenue because the town has a contract with the village to provide plowing and road maintenance services.
(Source: MidHudsonNews)
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probably should redistrict school district in conjunction with annexation just to ensure no impact on school taxes, but it looks good for KJ, just the haters always want something to complain about