Croton Budget Plan Stays Under Tax Cap; Chicken-Coop Setback Change Draws Objections

Croton-on-Hudson's tentative 2026-27 budget would raise the property-tax levy by $459,379 — about 3.4 percent — while staying under New York's tax cap, Village Manager Bryan Healy told trustees at a public hearing Wednesday night. No residents commented at the hearing, which opened and closed within minutes. The village's fiscal year runs June 1 through May 31; Healy noted the board is not adopting a budget yet, with four work sessions scheduled. The proposed levy of $13,791,502 sits under the village's tax-cap limit of $13,904,547 — a ceiling Healy said is certified by the state comptroller's office from a 2 percent allowable levy growth factor, a 0.57 percent tax-base growth factor and $204,471 in unused carryover. The current year's levy is $13,332,122. The plan draws on fund balance at a level Healy said keeps the unassigned balance around 21 percent, within the village policy band of 17 to 25 percent. Without that use, the levy would have exceeded $14 million — roughly a 7.8 percent increase. Water rates would hold steady for a second consecutive year and sewer rates would not rise either, though Healy cautioned that the sewer fund's declining balance may force an increase next year. Commuter parking continues its recovery: permit revenue has reached $1,497,000 — about $170,000 over budget — with daily parking at $1,320,000, still below the $3,735,000 in total parking revenue the village collected in 2019. The capital plan carries a $7.2 million general-fund allocation — led by $3.5 million for infrastructure, $1,087,000 for police and $740,000 for the fire department — plus a $1 million water-fund project. Road paving would get $900,000, nearly double the usual $400,000-to-$500,000 allocation, a response, Healy said, to budget-survey feedback and board direction. Outstanding debt, just under $38 million at its 2017 peak, drops to $27 million as of June 1. A planned $4,823,152 general-fund debt issuance is offset by $1,410,251 in grants and $500,000 in CHIPS aid. The village also learned Wednesday it can seek county funding for half the cost of engineering the proposed train-station seawall, potentially trimming another $125,000 from borrowing. Deputy Mayor Len Simon said it is "pleasing to see how often the word, grant funds pops up" Read 36:02▶ through the capital plan. One trustee asked whether a proposed police staffing study should come first; Healy said the budget adds no officers and some purchases cannot wait — "we need to upgrade the radios" Read 39:14▶ regardless of staffing.

Chicken coops and a zoning cleanup

A second public hearing covered Local Law Introductory No. 3 of 2026, a cleanup of the zoning code — updated definitions, clearer permit triggers, removal of an outdated three-dog cap — that also remakes the fowl rules, which now allow up to 25 fowl on a lot of any size. The law would scale the number of fowl to lot size and set the required distance for a fowl pen at 15 feet from the property line. Matthew Rubenstein of Truesdale Drive told the board the change would allow 10 fowl on a roughly one-third-acre RA-25 lot. On a sunny day, "you can see the cloud of dust coming from their pen, which floats onto your property if it's that close" Read 50:10▶, Rubenstein said, calling a coop 15 feet from the line a health risk with bird flu circulating and noting it could sit closer to a neighbor's house than the owner's. "I would urge you to reconsider that part of it and keep the 50 feet," Read 51:57▶ Rubenstein said, also pressing for real enforcement of noise rules. Healy said the current code could plausibly be read as requiring 50 feet — or no distance at all — and ambiguity in a zoning code is construed in the property owner's favor. The 15-foot figure came from a survey of neighboring municipalities' codes. Simon suggested increasing the buffer, and Healy floated a compromise: the village could "just split the difference and go with 25" Read 59:49▶ feet. Staff will explore the change before the law returns; a negative environmental declaration and potential adoption are expected on the board's next agenda. Responding to a Planning Board memo, Healy added that Metro-North facilities "are not subject to our zoning code in any way, shape, or form" Read 54:59▶ and need no village special permit.

Legislative priorities draw fire

Before adopting the village's 2026 legislative program, the board heard from Ed Riely of Truesdale Drive, who criticized planks from zero-emission vehicle goals to state-run health care, arguing the school district's roughly $500,000-a-bus electric bus purchases — against about $195,000 for diesel — had cost the village its credibility on electrification. Mayor Brian Pugh answered that any product can have problems, that electric trains are century-old technology, and that "further electrification, I should say, of our mass transit infrastructure, would be a huge net positive to the community" Read 85:09▶, citing American Lung Association findings on diesel and chronic noise complaints from diesel locomotives at Croton-Harmon, the busiest station on the Hudson Line. On health care, he said RAND Corporation research has found single-payer would cut administrative costs. Trustee Nora Nicholson highlighted the agenda's push for a stronger working relationship with the MTA and for repairs to Route 129, whose potholes she called a disaster. Trustee Maria Slippen said speed-camera home-rule legislation needs a clearer public conversation about privacy. Red-light camera vendors install and own their equipment — no village capital outlay — but the board would have to adopt a local law first, possibly at a work session after budget season.

Around the village

Dobbs Park's rebuild will not be finished by opening day, Healy reported; a fenced pathway will get children through to the fields, and a change order for lower bollard lighting is expected next meeting. Quaker Bridge tree removal is complete, with county communication limited and Army Corps of Engineers approval still pending. Rental-property owners must register by June 1 to avoid a penalty — some warning letters went out in error to owners whose mailing address simply falls outside the village. The hotel and motel occupancy tax begins collection April 1, with first payments due in July. With the village now on the Town of Cortlandt's assessment roll, residents whose exemptions did not carry over must file with the town by May 1. Slippen urged outreach so seniors, veterans — the group Healy said was most affected — and fixed-income households do not lose breaks through the transition. Trustees also hired USG Water Solutions for a $4,800 assessment of the Upper North Highland water storage tank, the lowest of five bids reviewed by DPW Superintendent Frank Balbi. The tank is close to a century old and "it's in need of some refurbishment" Read 80:37▶, Healy said. They authorized three change orders totaling $111,467.20 for the Van Cortlandt Manor entrance project — costs that fall to Historic Hudson Valley under its agreement with the village — and scheduled an April 22 public hearing on a proposed Verizon cable franchise. Valerie Leis, who had led the Arts and Humanities Council on an acting basis, was formally appointed its chair.

A year-round leaf-blower ban?

David Lowell of Farrington Road asked the board to make the village's seasonal ban on gas-powered leaf blowers year-round. "Let's make the gasoline powered leaf blower ban year round for everybody" Read 96:53▶, Lowell said, arguing that enforcement now falls on residents who risk confrontations when they report violations: "He got in my face. He was screaming at me. He was breaking the law, not me." Read 96:53▶ Lowell cited the pollution — "One gasoline powered leaf blower puts out the equivalent pollution in one hour to equal a car driving 1,100 miles." Read 98:33▶ — and pointed to communities from Larchmont to Rye that have already acted. Enforcement elsewhere, Healy said, mixes resident reports with inspectors acting on what they see: Croton issued 17 violations last year after one in the previous three years combined, though the village currently has no code enforcement officer — a position he hopes is filled by June. Nicholson agreed with the call to go further: "we're falling behind, and it's unlike Croton to be behind" Read 115:06▶, noting that Ossining bans gas leaf blowers year-round on lots under half an acre and that a countywide ban would be her preference. Trustee Stacey Nachtaler, the board's liaison with Deputy Mayor Len Simon to the planning and zoning boards, reported that the Zoning Board of Appeals voted March 17 to move the contested 52 Mount Airy application to the Planning Board for the fuller site-plan, environmental and drainage review the project now requires. Regina and Lewis Montana donated a painting commemorating the 250th anniversary, now hanging near the municipal building's east entrance. Simon highlighted the business association's new ALLBIZCROTON.com website, a Rotary thank-you for the DPW's snow season set for May 20 at Senasqua, and Project Mover bike-share bikes returning around April 6. What's next: budget work sessions continue ahead of adoption; the zoning law returns with a possible 25-foot fowl-pen buffer; and residents face twin deadlines — exemptions filed with the town by May 1, rental registration by June 1.