Taxes are going up in the Village of Pelham, no matter which way you count it. The Board of Trustees passed its 2026-27 budget of $20.5 million at its most recent meeting, approving a 10.1% increase over last year’s budget of $18.6 million.
As a result, homeowners in the village will see their property tax bills jump on average by more than 10% as the combination of a 4 percent increase in assessed property values, married to a 6.2% rise in the tax rate, deliver the biggest tax hike in the village in five years.
At the April 28 meeting, Deputy Mayor Michael Carpenter walked through a presentation highlighting the top drivers behind the budget’s double-digit growth. Non-discretionary spending accounted for about 60% of the increase between last year’s budget and this one, he said. The non-discretionary spending includes payments for state-mandated pension contributions, debt service, rising employee health insurance costs, and essential equipment replacements, like the new ladder truck for the fire department. Another 28% of this increase is for “strategic investment,” which includes money for the stormwater flood mitigation project and other initiatives, he said. Another 11% is for road paving, which Carpenter described as part of the basic “blocking and tackling” of local government. The last 2 percent of the increase is to fund a new position for a dedicated traffic officer, someone who can focus fulltime on traffic hot zones such as schools during drop off and pick up, and high traffic areas including Fifth Avenue.
“I think this board has demonstrated that it’s making targeted, high-impact improvements and this budget reflects that,” Carpenter said. “The bottom line for me is that this is a difficult but necessary budget. It reflects both financial realities and community priorities, and it positions the village to address long-term infrastructure and safety needs.”
In addressing the tax hike, Carpenter used an example of home assessed at the median value in the village, $981,500. That homeowner would have to pay $6,788 in property taxes this year, up $641 from last year. Asked last week for more details about the median home in this example, Carpenter provided the following chart:
| 2025 | 2026 | YOY ($) | YOY (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median home assessed value | $943,750 | $981,500 | $37,750 | 4.0% | |
| Tax Rate per thousand dollars in assessed value | $6.51 | $6.92 | $0.40 | 6.2% | |
| Village Real Estate Taxes | $6,146 | $6,788 | $641 | 10.2% |
During the public comment session, village resident Katie Keenan said the board could have been more transparent with various line items in the budget, particularly the amount of money that was going to debt service and special items, which increased by 50 percent year over year.
“As reported by the Pelham Examiner, I–like many of my neighbors–was alarmed to see that our taxes would go up by 16%,” she said. “I understand that number was later revised to 8.5% due to an error [on the part of the village], but based on what you just showed, it will be higher than 8.5% because the numbers have gone up… This lack of precision is very alarming because it’s something that impacts residents so greatly.”
Based on the presentation from the board in mid-April, Keenan said the two biggest items driving the growth in the budget were “special items” and “debt service.”
“I looked at the proposed budget,” she said. “I don’t see details of what those ‘special items’ are…My point is that…there’s more than just the one thing that make up the debt service issue. And it’s very hard to understand. I can’t find any documentation to understand what the big ticket items are. And as we think about why our taxes going up a lot, it’s really hard when we just [see] a very big debt number and not a lot of explanation for why and what to expect going forward…Are we expecting this dramatic increase each year in our debt service?
Carpenter said that special items cover contingencies for projects like flood mitigation, and debt service is for projects including improvements to the new parking lot behind the municipal center as well as the Fire Department’s new ladder truck which cost millions of dollars.
Keenan asked for a forecast, especially because “we have a lot of debt that has grown considerably.” Debt service alone pushes taxes above the tax cap, she said. The tax cap for the village is 2.58%. Trustees voted to override the cap this winter in anticipation of a challenging budget process.
While Carpenter said he could not give an exact number of what the debt service cost will be next year, he said that “debt service cost is appropriate for a village of this size.”
Keenan expressed frustration at how difficult it was for her and her neighbors to figure out where the money was going, and whether or not debt service payments would continue to spike year after year.
“There’s a big disconnect between.. the way the budget was presented in the meeting I watched last week versus what we’re saying right now,” she said. “So I would just request that you’re more thoughtful of that going forward.”
Carpenter pointed out that granular details of the budget emerge in the annual audit, but added that since the audit doesn’t come out until later this year, the village could arrange for the audit to come out earlier, allowing the public to see it before the budget vote.
Trustees passed the budget by a 6-0 vote, with Mayor Chance Mullen absent due to a conflict.
After the budget vote, Trustee Hanan Eldahry said she wanted to “get the conversation started” about the BDFZ (Business District Floating Zone) north of Fifth Avenue. She said that an update is needed because right now only townhouses are allowed in that area, and she wants to enable high quality rentals to be there as well. According to Eldahry, there will be no concern for an increase in school-aged children as a result of the rentals because data shows that there are fewer families with children in high-end rentals. She also brought up the idea of incorporating senior, affordable, or Habitat for Humanity housing in the area.
The board also addressed an email sent from a concerned resident about the parking on Ninth Avenue on the uphill approach to Lincoln Avenue from Park Place. While the resident does not live on the block, the limited sight line makes it dangerous when there are cars parked on the west side of the avenue leading into a busy intersection with Highbrook Avenue and Lincoln.
“You don’t know if someone is parked or waiting for the light,” said Trustee Don Otondi in agreement.
The board discussed adding a resolution to the next meeting about adding a no-parking zone on that side of the street.
“I’m okay with it,” said Trustee Krystal Howell. “I just want residents in the area to be notified.”
Scott Wolfgang • May 12, 2026 at 9:53 am
For Ms. Keenan and others, the reason the budget is up so much is because for years VoP has operated with a budget that has not had sufficient money to fund recurring capital expenses (paving, equipment replacement, etc etc). Most villages run an operating surplus largely via more non predictable revenue sources like grants, interest income and police fees and then transfer that from their operating account to their capital fund to pay for the recurring capital expenses needed to operate the village. VoP has unfortunately not been doing this and instead bonded for virtually every capital expense it had and thus has now run up a massive debt pile of $18M ($1.6M in annual expense) which has made balancing the budget and funding capital even harder. The solution unfortunately is expense mitigation which will hit services and higher tax increases to ensure the village can fund future recurring capital needs without incurring even more debt (and ideally paying down the pile that has tripled under Mayor Mullen). There are no easy answers at this point, but what is certain is the village is in no financial position to endeavor on a $30-50M flood mitigation project however well intentioned, especially under current leadership who has shown an inability to property manage the village finances.