Property taxes will rise again next year under a 2027 city budget proposal by Mayor Steve Noble. The spending plan released on Friday calls for a 6.9 percent increase in the tax levy to cover $9.5 million in new spending.

Under Noble’s proposed budget, taxes on residential “homestead” properties would rise from $10.78 per $1,000 of assessed value to $11.39. For commercial non-homestead properties the rate would increase from $16.80 per $1,000 to $17.69. Noble said that for a single-family home assessed at the city average of $184,000 tax bills would rise $9.35 per month, or $112 for the year.

In a budget address delivered Friday afternoon in the council chambers at City Hall, Noble defended the latest tax hike.

“For that extra $9 a month, we believe that the services delivered by the City of Kingston are worth it,” said Noble. “And that increase is as small as we can get it and still be able to deliver the services that are critically needed for our residents.”

This is the third year in a row that the city budget has contained a significant tax hike. Property taxes, which had held steady or declined since Noble took office in 2016, began rising in 2025 and have gone up by 18.8 percent since then. If Noble’s budget proposal is approved in its current form, next year property taxes will stand at 25.7 percent above 2024 levels. In his address, Noble blamed rising personnel costs for the tax hikes noting, for example, that a family health plan for city employees that cost $22,000 in 2016 currently costs $45,000. Overall, increases in employee healthcare, payments into the state pension fund and salaries accounted for $3.7 million.

“Many of these costs are passed down to us by state government. Many of these costs are contractual and are set in terms of what the city has to pay,” said Noble. “Much of this is just beyond our direct control.”

Along with personnel costs, increases in the city’s debt service budget line have helped drive tax increases as the city pays down bonds for a number of major infrastructure projects. Noble’s budget proposal includes a capital plan that calls for another $184.6 million in bonding over the next five years. The bonding requests are broken down by department. The city’s engineering department accounts for $139.1 million of the new bonding requests. Big-ticket projects include $41.5 million in improvements and upgrades at the city’s wastewater treatment plant, $10.4 million to convert a former ambulance garage into a new station and headquarters for the fire department and $8.06 million to replace sewer infrastructure on Hasbrouck Avenue.

Much of the proposed new bonding will be offset by grants that the city has already secured or applied for. For example, a $28.1 million “Weaving the Waterfront” project that will help better connect Downtown neighborhoods with new sidewalks, bike paths and other street improvements will receive reimbursement through a $21.7 million federal grant secured in 2024.

In his budget address, Noble defended his fiscal stewardship, pointing to factors like declining use of the city’s fund balance to offset the tax levy. Noble also pointed to the city’s strong bond rating and an assessment by the Office of the State Comptroller that rated the city fiscal stress score, based on factors like reserve funds, a balanced budget and manageable levels of debt, at a perfect 100.

“The good decisions that we made previously really help us to stay stable so we don’t have those 42 percent tax increases like you see in other places across the state and across the country.”

With Noble’s budget proposal in hand, the Kingston Common Council’s Finance Committee will take the lead with a series of meetings with department heads where they will likely seek additional savings. That process will kick off on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m. with a public hearing in Council Chambers at City Hall, where residents will have a chance to present their views on the budget proposal. The committee will then hold six additional meetings to examine and potentially make changes to the spending plan before the full council votes on in December.