Kingston, NY (June 5, 2024) – Today Ulster County Clerk Nina Postupack and Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher released a report on Ulster County’s distribution of Mortgage Recording Tax. The review was triggered by an observation in the fluctuation of receipts by New Paltz Village Mayor Tim Rogers.
The review found that when new real property software was introduced in 2020, it was improperly dividing the mortgage tax receipts between towns and their corresponding villages based on the location of the mortgage rather than based on the total assessed values of the town and village properties as required by state law.
Further review found that the County’s calculation of the amounts due to the villages for mortgage tax was also incorrect prior to the implementation of the software. The County historically had been using taxable assessed values, rather than total assessed values for the calculation. To further complicate matters, the County’s historical calculation was not made in accordance with State law, which calls for taking the total assessed value of the village and dividing it by twice the total assessed value of the town to determine the percentage of the total mortgage tax receipts to be distributed to the village. The County had not historically doubled the value of the total assessed value of the towns, which overstated the amount paid to the villages.
