News Article: A Test of the Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act In New Paltz by Roger Hannigan Gilson
As property values rise across the Hudson Valley, there is growing fear among locals that private landowners will sell to developers, robbing bucolic towns of some of their unique charm.
That’s why, in November, New Paltz voted to adopt a real estate transfer tax, requiring homebuyers to pay an additional 1.5 percent on the portion of the sale exceeding the average property value in Ulster County. That revenue goes into a community preservation fund for purchasing land easements to preserve the character of the community—which, in New Paltz’s case, means open space, hiking trails, and the agricultural land that supports farmer’s markets, farm-to-table cuisine, and views of the Shawangunks. Given the demographic trends in the region, the tax will mostly be paid by wealthy new arrivals.
New Paltz is the first community in the Hudson Valley to take advantage of the 2007 Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act, though there are a few other localities with preservation funds fed by a transfer tax on real property. Our latest feature, written and reported by Roger Hannigan Gilson, looks at how and why New Paltz decided to tax itself, and how community preservation funds have worked elsewhere in the region.