Red Hook may tax high-end home sales

Rasheed Oluwa Poughkeepsie Journal February 20, 2006

RED HOOK — Residents could have the opportunity this year to decide whether land preservation should be funded by a tax on sales of high-end homes in town.
The town board unanimously passed a resolution asking the state Legislature to allow the town to create a law for a community preservation fund. The fund would be financed through a one-time tax on residential properties purchased for more than the median price in Dutchess County.
If the state grants the town permission during the next legislative session, the public will get an opportunity to vote on the plan by year-end.
"We will ask Sen. (Steve) Saland and Assemblyman (Patrick) Manning to sponsor this local request," said Robert McKeon, chairman of the town's agriculture and open space committee. "Sen. Saland has already indicated that if individual towns put forth such a request, he would find it difficult not to honor them."
Manning has shown support for the idea, co-sponsoring a bill for a statewide law that passed the Assembly last year. The bill eventually died in the Senate.
The law would ask buyers to pay as much as 2 percent of the difference between the sales price of a property and the median county price.
If the median county price was $380,000 and a home was purchased for $400,000, the transfer fee would be applied to the $20,000 difference. At 2 percent, that would be $400.
The median price for a single family home sold in Dutchess was $342,000 in 2005, according to the New York State Association of Realtors.
"I think it's wonderful because it preserves open space at the least cost to the taxpayers," Red Hook resident Rosemary Zengen said. "I think we should have done this 20 years ago."
Money collected could be used for a variety of purposes involving open space, historic and cultural preservation.
Supervisor Marirose Blum Bump said the fund could be used to pay down the debt associated with the town's farmland protection program. In 2003, town residents authorized the town board to borrow $3.5 million for preserving farmland in the town.
The town board also urged the state Legislature to pass a statewide law.
To date, six communities on Long Island and the Town of Warwick, Orange County, have had similar laws approved by the Legislature.

Rasheed Oluwa can be reached at roluwa@poughkeepsiejournal.com

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