The tide has turned the wrong way for Greenport.
In his recent presentation of the proposed 2026-27 village budget, village treasurer Adam Brautigam highlighted an alarming erosion of the tax base on which the village depends to fund municipal services. Credit to Mr. Brautigam for shining a light on this critical long-term threat to the health and well-being of the village.
Just as a fever reveals an underlying health threat in a person, a declining tax base is a warning of trouble ahead for the village.
The tax base reflects the aggregate value of all properties in the village. Put simply, when the tax base is growing, the village is gaining economic value that helps spread the burden of future taxation across a wider base.
Conversely, when the base is eroding, as it is now, it is a clear signal that the village is in trouble.
What happened?In 2023, following many years of strong investment and tax base growth, this board imposed a commercial development moratorium, followed by a massive and poorly planned rezoning of the commercial district. These changes imposed uncertainty and prohibitive new costs on development and have brought investment in downtown Greenport to a virtual standstill.
In a prime illustration of the impact these policies have had, a multimillion-dollar proposal to expand the Greenporter Hotel was canceled after the village failed to advance the application process in a timely manner. This investment alone would have boosted the tax base enough to recover much of what has been lost in just the last three years.
Given continued demand and rising residential property values, the lack of new commercial investment and the high incidence of store vacancies, it is reasonable to assume the erosion of the tax base has occurred primarily in the commercial district. This has the inevitable effect of shifting more of the tax burden to homeowners.
Higher residential taxes aggravate what is already a severe housing affordability crisis and drive another nail in the coffin of opportunity for attracting and retaining the young working families needed to sustain Greenport’s economic diversity and culture.
What could be more important to the future of the village than creating opportunity for the next generation of Greenporters, starting with an affordable place to call home?
Source: The Suffolk Times
