Peekskill presents tentative 2027 budget with 3.5% proposed tax increase

Comptroller Tony Tracy opened the council's budget workshop with a broad overview of the city manager's tentative 2027 budget, reporting a proposed total of $58,966,965 and saying the plan would require roughly a 3.5% property tax-rate increase to generate the revenue needed to cover projected expenses. "So we are starting with the 2027 tentative budget," Tracy told the council as he reviewed revenue streams and proposed uses.

Tracy warned the council that mandatory costs are driving the increase: retiree health care and pensions now consume a large share of the city's personnel costs (about 76% of the operating budget is personnel-related), and recent pension actuarial changes have produced single-year increases as large as the high double digits. He highlighted reserves and proposed uses (including a $600,000 annual draw from the firehouse reserve in the recommended budget) and said staff will return with formal resolutions and more detailed line-item work before the Dec. 1 adoption deadline.