Scarsdale Village to Accept Prepayment of Village Portion of 2018 Taxes: Act Quickly

scarsdalevillagehallGood news: You can prepay your 2018 Village taxes if you act quickly. The Village is accepting payments in person through 5 pm on Friday December 29, in the drop box at Village Hall and online. Read the instructions from the Village of Scarsdale below:

Prepayment of 2018 Property Taxes Update

The Mayor and Village Board of Trustees convened a special meeting on December 28 and adopted a resolution allowing for the prepayment of 2018 Village property taxes prior to December 31, 2017. The Board acted to provide potential assistance to homeowners with maintaining certain property tax deductions on their Federal income tax largely lost due to the recently adopted Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act . Please be advised that the final determination regarding the applicability and deductibility of prepaying the Village taxes will be decided by the United States Internal Revenue Service.

The Village Board's action was taken pursuant to Governor Cuomo ' s December 22, 2017 Executive Order No. 172 which temporarily suspended certain provisions of New York State Real Property Tax Law. In the Village ' s opinion, this temporary suspension allowed the Village to issue an interim tax levy and warrant for the collection of property taxes in advance of our normal fiscal year budgetary process. As it is uncertain whether this interim warrant will in fact allow for the issuance of a final warrant once the normal budget process is completed and a budget adopted by May 1, 2018, the interim warrant adopted by the Village Board includes a 2% increase over the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-2018 warrant. This 2% is consistent with the New York State tax cap allowance for Villages for FY 2018-2019 and is predicated on funding certain contractual obligations known at this time. Ultimately the adopted budget will be based on the Village Board's deliberations, public input and funding decisions, and will be reflected in the final levy and warrant.

The December 23, 2017 press release issued by the Village was predicated on the best information available to the Village at that time. We always understood that the separate legislative bodies at the County of Westchester and the Scarsdale Board of Education would perform their own review and due diligence of the Governor's Executive Order and relevant statutory requirements and decide on the applicability and legality of issuing tax warrants for the prepayment of County and School taxes, respectively. Pursuant to this review, both the County and School District determined that they were unable to issue tax warrants at this time and could not allow for the prepayment of County and School property taxes.

For those residents who have already prepaid their County and School taxes in separate checks, the Village Treasurer will return those checks, which have not been deposited, in due course. Please be advised that without County and School warrants, the Village has no authority to deposit these funds and hold this money. For those residents who paid all three taxes using a single check, the Treasurer's Office will endeavor to contact you to secure a new replacement check for the Village tax only. The original check will then be returned. The legal date of receipt of the payment will be the date the original check was either delivered or postmarked.

Property owners interested in prepayment of the Village tax have the option of paying all or a portion of their 2017 Village tax. If you are unsure of this amount, it can be found on the Village website,
www.scarsdale.com. On the Front Page of the website, click on the icon titled " Property Inquiry " located in the center of the red tool bar. Navigate by street name and address to find your 2017 Village property tax payment information. Pursuant to the Governor 's Executive Order, payments may be made in person at Village Hall from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. through December 29, 2017. The Drop Box at Village Hall will be closed at the end of business (5:00 p.m.) December 29, 2017. Payments may also be mailed and will be accepted with a United States postmark, Federal Express or UPS shipment dated on or before December 31, 2017. Postage meter marks are not acceptable. Please note that on-line banking checks issued through personal or business accounts are not postmarked and cannot be accepted if received after December 31, 2017.

On-line payments through the Village ' s on-line payment option at www.scarsdale.com, are also allowed under the Governor's Executive Order. On www.scarsdale.com, go to the third icon in the red tool bar below the banner photo titled " Online Payments. " Click on this icon and follow the section " Pre-Pay 2018 Village Taxes " which include the following steps: 

Step 1: Visit Property Inquiry and look up your 2017 Village tax bill here.

Step 2: With your last name and 2017 Village tax bill amount, click here to pay all or some of it online.

If you have any issues accessing the website or have additional questions, please contact the Village Treasurer ' s Office at (914) 722-1170.