Oyster Bay hikes town tax levy for first time in 8 years

The Oyster Bay Town Board has adopted a $354.3 million budget for 2026 that includes a tax levy hike of more than 3.9%, the first such increase since 2017.

The budget outlines a 3.3% spending hike from the 2025 adopted budget and includes a $9.2 million total tax levy increase to $242.2 million. Property taxes for the average home in the town will be $1,800, representing a $72 increase over 2025, town documents show.

“We held the line on taxes for seven years in a row after cutting taxes" for 2018,  Rob Darienzo, the town’s director of finance, said in a phone interview. “At some point, that’s just not sustainable. Costs go up every year.”

The Oyster Bay town board passed the budget with a 7-0 vote.

Town officials pointed to rising health care costs as a pressure in the budget, which remained under the state's tax cap calculation because, in part, the town didn't raise taxes last year, said Brian Nevin, a town spokesman. The state tax cap next year is 2% but varies by municipality based on its financial condition.

Long Island's 13 towns and two cities spent $341.3 million on employee and retiree health care premiums in 2024, marking a nearly 12% increase over the previous year’s total, Newsday has reported.

Oyster Bay is slated to pay $104 million for employee salaries in 2026, up from $102.9 million in the 2025 adopted budget. The budget plans for a $6 million increase in debt payments and a $2 million bump in employee benefit costs, which mirrors the Islandwide trend.

While the town has absorbed those costs in prior budgets, town officials said the increases have caught up and triggered the property tax hike.

“In a world where everything goes up, health insurance has skyrocketed,” Darienzo said. “At this point, we had to do the responsible thing and mildly raise taxes.”

Darienzo said in 2026 the town will have to make final payments for two bond sales that are maturing, contributing to the bump in debt service. Those payments will fall off the books in 2027, he said.

Saladino, in a letter attached to the town budget, said the spending plan “is balanced, honest, and free of gimmicks or one-shot revenues.” He noted the budget “requires no borrowing for cash flow purposes.”

Oyster Bay officials during Saladino’s tenure have touted successive property tax freezes. In 2016, then-town Supervisor John Venditto hiked the tax levy by 11.5% in an effort to reduce the deficit.

Elected officials are set to receive pay increases next year. A 2024 law stipulated annual raises of $2,500 for the town supervisor, clerk and receiver of taxes, as well as $1,500 increases for town board members.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ