Huntington Town Supervisor Ed Smyth says there is almost no mathematical way to avoid a painful choice facing the town board this budget season: raise property taxes beyond New York's state cap, or slash department budgets by 16 percent and eliminate key services and programs. The town board is set to hold a second budget workshop this week as it weighs a tax cap override against significant cuts to staffing and services heading into 2027.
The stakes are steep. Huntington faces a projected $16 million budget gap for 2027, according to local reporting, a shortfall that arrives after the town kept its operating budget under the state property tax cap for ten consecutive years. That streak looks likely to end. As News12 Long Island reports, Smyth told residents that maintaining current staff and service levels will require a tax increase exceeding the state cap, and that the alternative — staying under it — would mean a 16 percent reduction in department budgets.
Smyth said the town wanted to demonstrate just how stark that under-the-cap scenario would look, and residents at recent meetings have pushed back on the idea of higher taxes. One resident argued that taxes involve other people's money, while another urged town leaders to find a solution rather than simply pass costs along to homeowners, per the same account.
Where the Money Is Going
Huntington's entire $3.9 million in allowable tax cap room for 2027 is nearly wiped out by a single line item: a projected $3.8 million increase in refuse management costs under the town's contract with Reworld, according to the local report. Layered on top of that is an estimated $1.5 million loss in energy credits tied to a scheduled turbine overhaul at the town's East Northport waste-to-energy facility. Between the two, there is almost no room left in the cap for anything else.
If Huntington ultimately adopts a proposed $264.5 million budget that pierces the cap, the average town homeowner would see an estimated property tax increase of roughly $25 a month, or $300 a year, according to Newsday. Under New York law, Smyth must formally submit a tentative 2027 budget to the Huntington Town Clerk by September 30, following the town's ongoing budget workshops.
A Statewide Pattern, Not Just a Huntington Problem
New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said Huntington's predicament reflects a broader trend playing out across the state, according to News12. Statewide, cities planned to override the tax cap at a rate of 45 percent for the fiscal year ending in 2026, while villages planned overrides at 35.5 percent, towns at 28.6 percent, and counties at 24.6 percent, per the outlet's report.
DiNapoli said Long Island towns and villages exceed the statewide tax-cap-override rate, and he pointed to persistent inflation, rising operating costs, tariffs, and the loss of COVID-era relief funding as pressures squeezing local governments statewide. The comptroller's office has documented that squeeze in detail: allowable property tax levy growth for 2027 remains capped at 2 percent for calendar-year local governments for a sixth consecutive year, even though the state calculated a 3.13 percent inflation factor, according to the Office of the New York State Comptroller. A separate comptroller report found that planned override rates among New York cities jumped from 13.1 percent in 2022 to 45 percent for fiscal year 2026, while county overrides climbed from 3.5 percent to 24.6 percent over the same stretch.
Fire districts are feeling similar strain: 31.5 percent reported plans to override the tax cap for fiscal year 2026, up from 18.6 percent in 2022, per the comptroller's office. School districts, by contrast, have overridden the cap far less often, with only 4.9 percent planning overrides for fiscal year 2026 — up from 2.4 percent in 2024 — a gap explained by the higher bar of winning 60 percent voter approval at the ballot box rather than a town board vote. Under state law, town boards can approve an override with a 60 percent supermajority vote of their own members, a far lower hurdle than the public referendum school districts must clear.
How Neighboring Towns Have Handled the Same Squeeze
Huntington isn't alone on Long Island in grappling with this math. Neighboring Riverhead approved a $121.1 million budget for fiscal year 2026 that exceeded the 2 percent cap by 4.63 percent, resulting in a 7.74 percent tax levy increase tied to rising police payroll, healthcare, and pension obligations, according to a prior Newsday report. Hoodline previously reported on Riverhead's $7 million tax hit tied to a golf course legal judgment, another example of how a single cost driver can consume a town's entire cap allowance.
Elsewhere on Long Island, Suffolk County and Nassau County are not currently considering tax cap overrides, according to News12, even as DiNapoli notes that smaller Long Island local governments are facing budget challenges similar to Huntington's. For now, Huntington's town board will continue weighing its options at this week's workshop, deciding between piercing the cap or making the deep cuts Smyth has warned would follow if it doesn't.
