If the Village of Ardsley raised the money it collects in property taxes by almost 10 percent this year, why did the tax rate rise only about 1 percent?
Buyers comparing Ardsley with Dobbs Ferry, Irvington or Hastings-on-Hudson often treat a village tax rate as a measure of cost. For Ardsley, the rate is the least useful figure in the budget. Under the Town of Greenburgh's assessment system, rising home prices take in most of the Village's spending growth before it ever shows up in the rate. Whether your bill climbs depends on how your own assessment moves against everyone else's.
The rate rose 1.03%, and the levy rose 9.71%
The Village of Ardsley's adopted 2026-27 budget covers the fiscal year from June 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027. Over the last three budgets, it shows the levy, the rate and the tax base moving very differently.
| Budget year | Adjusted tax levy | Tax rate | Total assessed value | Assessment date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | $14,229,242 | 10.74 | $1,325,241,431 | March 1, 2024 |
| 2025-26 | $14,628,780 | 10.2662 | $1,424,950,550 | March 1, 2025 |
| 2026-27 | $16,049,103 | 10.3724 | $1,547,294,922 | March 1, 2026 |
The levy is the total dollar amount the Village needs from property owners. This year it went up 9.71%. The rate went up 1.03%. The year before, the levy rose 2.81% and the rate fell 4.41%.
The levy is also larger than New York's property tax cap would normally allow. The budget lists an allowable levy of $15,130,249, so the adopted levy is $918,854 over the cap. In the previous two budgets, the Village came in slightly under the cap. The Board of Trustees adopted the 2026-27 budget 5-0 on April 20, 2026.
A bigger tax base keeps the rate low
The gap between the levy and the rate comes from the assessed value column. Ardsley's total assessed value grew 8.59% between March 2025 and March 2026, after growing 7.52% the year before. When the base grows almost as fast as the levy, the rate barely has to move.
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance explains the mechanics this way:
"If assessments increase, tax rates should go down proportionally. This is because the tax levy is now being distributed over a broader tax base. If tax rates go up or stay the same, it simply means that the municipality or school district is collecting more in taxes."
So by the state's own guidance, a rate that holds steady while assessments climb means more money is being collected. In 2026-27 Ardsley's rate went up slightly, on top of an 8.59% larger base.
Ardsley's base grows like this partly because of how Greenburgh assesses property. The Town's 2026 assessment guidance applies to unincorporated Greenburgh and all of its villages. It says that since 2016, property has been assessed at 100% of market value, so your assessment on the 2026 roll should equal your home's market value as of July 1, 2025. The Town has also said that changes to an assessment from year to year can reflect shifts in market value, physical changes to the property, or both. In a market where prices keep rising, the base keeps growing.
Your bill follows your assessment compared with the village average
Since the rate barely moved, what matters for any one house is how its assessment changed compared with the 8.59% average. The state uses the same logic in its example: if your assessment rose 12% and the average rose 15%, your taxes go down, assuming budgets and levies stay the same.
Here is how the village part of a bill works out, using only the 1.03% rate change in the Ardsley budget and ignoring exemptions:
- Assessment unchanged: the village tax goes up about 1%, which is just the rate increase.
- Assessment up 8.59%, matching the village average: the village tax goes up about 9.7%, close to the levy increase.
- Assessment up 15%: the village tax goes up about 16%, because this house now carries a bigger share of a bigger levy.
The rate is the same in all three cases. The only difference is how much each house's assessment moved. Greenburgh makes a related point itself. A change in one owner's assessment doesn't necessarily change that owner's bill, because budgets, other properties' assessments, exemptions and how taxes are divided up all play a part.
The village tax is also only one piece of the bill. The Ardsley Union Free School District's approved 2026-27 budget is $91,073,716, up 6.35%. It is paid for partly by a $67 million property tax levy, up 3.40%.
The assessment roll runs a year behind a market selling over asking
The 2026 roll values homes as of July 1, 2025. The Town also asks anyone challenging an assessment to use comparable sales from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. The roll is always looking back at a market that has already moved on.
Ardsley's market has kept moving. In September 2026, according to Houlihan Lawrence's Ardsley single-family market report, 12 homes sold at a median price of $1,225,000. Homes averaged 20 days on market, 14 were for sale, and inventory stood at 1.2 months. The report's sale-price-to-list measure was 109.51% for the month. Compared with September 2025, the median rose 3.9% and the average sale price rose 17.4%. Twelve sales is a small sample for one month, but every figure points the same way. Buyers are paying above asking prices in a village with very few homes for sale.
This is how the pattern in the table keeps going. The Town values homes at market value as of a set date. Sales that close above asking become the evidence for the next roll. The base grows, and a large levy increase can still come with a calm-looking rate. For a buyer, Ardsley's tax rate tells you little about how the village part of a bill will change.
On recent purchases, the Town's guidance doesn't say a sale automatically resets the assessment to the sale price. It does say that owners who bought within the past two years and want to challenge their assessment should attach their bank appraisal, contract of sale or HUD-1 closing statement.
Where the extra dollars went
General fund spending in the adopted budget rose 9.51%, from $18,431,025 to $20,184,212. Most of the increase shows up in a few lines:
- Employee benefits: $5,396,764, up from $4,870,428, an increase of about $526,000
- Hospital and medical insurance: $2,662,823, up from $2,316,108, about $347,000 of the benefits increase
- Retirement and Social Security: state retirement $529,709, up from $477,819; police retirement $1,202,666, up from $1,178,000; Social Security $575,406, up from $471,536
- Debt service and transfers between funds: $3,612,409, up from $3,290,955, an increase of about $321,000
Together, benefits and debt service account for roughly $848,000 of the $1.42 million levy increase. The Village also applied $250,000 from its debt reserve and $275,000 from fund balance to bring the levy down. Without those, the full amount to be raised would have been $16,574,103. Health insurance and pension costs are hard for a village to cut quickly, which is one reason a buyer should look at the levy trend as well as the current rate.
According to the April 6, 2026 Board of Trustees minutes, Village Manager Joseph L. Cerretani thanked the budget team for its work on "this challenging budget" at the public hearing. One cost held steady. The same minutes show the Village kept its sanitary sewer program at the existing rate and proposed a 2026-27 sewer rent ceiling of $2.124 per CCF.
The assessment calendar for an Ardsley owner
Because the roll uses a fixed valuation date, the important deadlines come months before any bill arrives. The Town of Greenburgh's 2026 guidance on challenging an assessment set out this sequence:
- June: the tentative assessment is published, as the Town notes New York's Real Property Tax Law requires.
- June 1 to June 16: the grievance window, from 9 a.m. on the first day to 9 p.m. on the last. Applications must arrive by the deadline; a postmark doesn't count. Filing is free.
- By September 15: the Board of Assessment Review sends out its decisions.
- The following year: any change affects the next year's taxes under the Westchester County Charter.
The 2026 window closed in June, and this year's decisions went out in September. Ardsley owners now hold the numbers that will feed into next year's bills. For the next roll, the Town's guidance says the most helpful evidence is an appraisal by a New York State licensed or certified appraiser, along with photos and recent comparable sales.
Quick answers
Does a low tax rate mean Ardsley is getting cheaper to own? No. In 2026-27 the rate rose 1.03% while the amount the Village collects rose 9.71%.
Does the same assessment system apply in Dobbs Ferry and Irvington? Greenburgh's 100%-of-market-value guidance covers the unincorporated town and all of its villages. Each village still sets its own budget and levy.
Will filing a grievance cost anything? The Town lists the filing cost as $0.00. It notes that private firms that file grievances often charge 50% to 100% of the first year's tax savings, and that an appraisal usually costs $300 to $750.
This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Please check your own assessment and tax situation with the Town Assessor or a qualified tax professional.
If you're weighing an Ardsley purchase or getting ready to sell, I can walk you through how recent sales near your street compare with the valuations behind the current roll, so you go into the next budget season with real numbers. Wendy Holt offers a complimentary home valuation. Request yours, and we'll go over it together.
