After a month of crunching numbers, soliciting feedback, and speaking with neighboring municipalities, the Town of Montgomery board adopted its 2025 budget last Wednesday, November 20. This year’s budget was especially concerning for residents and officials due to its 17.53% tax rate, the first and largest tax increase for town and village residents in the last four years.

Town Supervisor Steve Brescia explained that the tax increase was a difficult but necessary decision following the town’s excessive fund balance spending. The raise would also cover increases to the Montgomery Police Department’s salaries and the Montgomery Ambulance Corps’ funding.

“Nobody here has been in this situation before, but we have to take corrective action,” said Brescia. “We did what we could to cut as much as we could, but it’s tough when you have four or five years of excessive spending in some regards and no proportionate tax increase to account for that.”

Several residents voiced their discontent with the tax raise during the town’s special meeting on November 14, stressing that the increase would be a large burden to bear on top of other financial strains.

“That’s a lot of money, but I understand the board’s point of view. Just take into consideration that there are a lot of people on fixed and low incomes who don’t have a ton of money,” said Mark Palczewski, a Village of Montgomery resident. “I can afford it, but there are people who can’t, and that 17% is really going hurt to them. When you do the budget, see if you can squeeze as much money as you can out of it.”

Former Walden Mayor Susan Taylor asserted that taxing Waldenites for town road and bridge repairs was unfair, arguing that village residents can travel just fine without using town roads. She mentioned that the town failed to address Hill Street Bridge’s condition for several years and claimed that the town treats Walden like “an ugly stepchild” compared to the Village of Montgomery and Maybrook.

“We used to have a bridge in the Village of Walden on Hill Street, that bridge was a topic of this town board. The former supervisor questioned why two other villages and the town should be expected to pay to repair that bridge,” Taylor said. “So I find it ironic that the Town of Montgomery wants to tax village residents to repair bridges that our residents will rarely ever use.”
Walden Trustee Becky Pearson questioned what services the town provides to village residents, alleging that village residents pay high taxes for the town’s services but received very little in return.

“What services do the villages receive for the taxes they pay to the town? We get nothing,” Pearson said. “We get a town court, a finance department, and a receiver of taxes. That does us no good, we can’t do anything with that.”

Brescia, in response to Taylor and Pearson’s statements, shared a list of services that village residents receive through the town during the board’s November 20 meeting. A few of these services include:

• Access to birth and death records, free notary services, FOIL requests, EZ Pass On-the-GO, and disabled parking placards.
• Access to the town’s parks, including pavilion and field rentals. These include Benedict Farm Park, Berea Park, Riverfront Park, and the rail trail.
• Dial-a-Bus transportation services.
• Engineering and grant funding assistance.
• Funding to the village’s libraries, recreation departments, senior programs, cemeteries, VFW posts, and American Legion posts.
• Licensing for dogs, marriage, hunting, fishing, and games of chance.
  “I’m friends with Sue Taylor and Becky Pearson, but let’s get the facts straight. You’re two former mayors and you should know that these services are offered,” Brescia said. “And Walden is not a stepchild, Walden gets just as much attention as any of the other two villages.”

Before adopting the budget, Brescia assured residents that he and the board would do their best to steer the town’s finances in the right direction. The board also thanked Bernard Bowen and Katie McKnight, the town’s finance budget officer and account clerk, for their continued work in the finance department and on this year’s budget.

“We’re going to ride this ship one way or another, and it’s going to take a little time. We’re going to freeze some things and watch our spending; we have not gone on a spending spree since the beginning of this year, so don’t think that we’re just spending,” Brescia said. “This is a situation that we have to deal with; it’s unfortunate that the fund balance was depleted, so much of it was used to balance the budget. We’re going to work our hardest to make a better situation next year.”