The Hudson Weekly Digest
Hudson City Budget · Explainer

How Hudson property tax works

Each government decides how much to collect. Your assessment decides your slice.

1 · Where it goes

About half your bill goes to the schools

A Hudson property owner pays three property taxes: to the Hudson City School District, the City of Hudson, and Columbia County. Out of every $100:

Split worked out from the tax rates Columbia County posts for the City of Hudson.5

You pay these in two bills: the school tax to the school district, and the city and county tax together to the City Treasurer.2122 When each is due

2 · How your share is set

The total is fixed first. Then it's sliced.

Each year the city, the county and the school district decide how many dollars they need from property tax. That total is the levy. It gets cut into slices by assessed value. A bigger assessment means a bigger slice of the same pie.

So a reassessment doesn't make the pie bigger. "If assessments increase, tax rates should go down proportionally," says the state tax department.2 What it changes is who holds which slice.

$7,500you$5,000neighbor$7,500neighbor$10,000neighbor

An example street of four houses. Pink is yours.

Your bill$7,500
Tax rate$25.00per $1,000

Your house is 25% of the street's assessed value, so you pay 25% of the $30,000 levy.

  • Everyone's value goes up 15%: your slice stays the same size, the rate falls, and your bill doesn't change.
  • Only yours goes up 15%: your slice grows, so your bill goes up and your neighbors' bills go down.
  • The levy goes up 4%: every slice grows 4%, including yours.

State law limits how fast each levy can grow. The Council can vote to go over the limit.4 How that plays out this year →

3 · Hudson's stale assessments

Hudson's assessments have fallen behind the market

After the 2019 reassessment, Hudson's assessments matched market value. As prices rose and assessments stayed put, the gap grew. By 2026, assessments across the city added up to 67% of market value.79 On average, a home worth $100,000 on the market carried an assessment of about $67,000.

Stale assessments don't all go stale at the same rate. When the city reassesses, the burden shifts "to those whose property values have risen faster than average," as the school district's own guide puts it.2

Go deeper

Reference

Tax rates

The 2026 rates Columbia County posts for the City of Hudson, per $1,000 of assessed value: school district 12.67 (2026-27), city 7.67, county 4.39. Together that's $24.73, before exemptions like STAR.5

The planned reassessment

A resolution before the Common Council in June 2026 would have the county reassess Hudson in 2028, with grievances in 2029, at a cost of $73,500.9 We could not confirm how the Council voted on June 23, 2026.

How one school levy is split across seven towns

The Hudson City School District covers Claverack, Ghent, Greenport, Hudson, Livingston, Stockport and Taghkanic.24 Each town assesses at its own level, so the state uses an equalization rate for each one: "the ratio of total assessed value (AV) to the municipality's total market value (MV)."1 The state gives an example. Two towns each have $10 million of assessed value, and $1 million has to be raised. The town assessing at 33.33% of market value pays $600,000. The town at 50% pays $400,000.1

School district levy and cap, 2019-20 to 2026-27
School yearLevyIncreaseAllowable

District budget documents, one per year.17 The 2026-27 levy comes from the May 2026 presentation6 and its limit from March 2026, which put it at 3.44% before exclusions.20 The 2019-20 increase may be the proposed figure.

Hudson's level of assessment, year by year
Roll year% of market valueValuation date

Each figure is the level of assessment printed on that year's final roll. It matched the state's equalization rate in each year we checked: 2020, 2025 and 2026.789

When bills are due

School tax: a bill from the school district, mailed around July 16, 2026, with installments due August 15 and October 15, payable to "HCSD Tax Collector."21

City and county tax: one bill, collected by the City Treasurer. The City Charter sets city tax in four installments, January 1, April 1, July 1 and September 1, with county tax paid in halves alongside the January and July installments.22 That's the charter's schedule; we haven't confirmed the Treasurer's current billing.

STAR exemption

STAR reduces school tax for eligible homeowners. For the City of Hudson part of the school district, the most it can save in 2026-27 is $321 (Basic) or $921 (Enhanced).23

What we're still checking
  • The Council's June 23, 2026 vote on the reassessment contract.
  • Settled: the Treasurer's 2026 ledger gives total spending of $19,639,523 and a levy of $5,972,844, matching the November 2025 reports. An October 2026 article's "$19.5M" and "3.8%" are not supported by the ledger.14
  • When city and county tax installments are due in practice.
  • Hudson's total assessed and market value, and city and county rates before 2026.
  • The school district's allowable increase for 2025-26.

The county doesn't label the units on its rates. We read them as per $1,000 of assessed value because the school rate matches the district's own estimate: $2,527.58 on a $200,000 home in the City of Hudson.6

Sources
  1. NYS Office of Real Property Tax Services, Understanding the Equalization Rate (Pub. 1121, Aug 2021). tax.ny.gov
  2. NYS Dept. of Taxation and Finance, "Reassessments don't increase taxes collected by local governments" (Apr 28, 2021). tax.ny.gov. Burden-shift quote: Hudson City School District, "Property Value Reassessments and Your School Taxes" (Apr 2019), hudsoncsd.org
  3. NY Real Property Tax Law §305(2). newyork.public.law
  4. NYS ORPTS, The Property Tax Cap: Guidelines for Implementation (Pub. 1000, Oct 2011). tax.ny.gov
  5. Columbia County, "Tax Rates/Info," City of Hudson table (accessed Oct 4, 2026). columbiacountyny.gov
  6. Hudson City School District, Budget Hearing Presentation (May 5, 2026). hudsoncsd.org
  7. Columbia County, City of Hudson final assessment rolls, 2016–2026, page 1 headers. Index · 2026 · 2025 · 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018 · 2017 · 2016
  8. NY Open Data, "Equalization Rates: Beginning Rate Year 1954" (Hudson city rows, 2020 and 2025). catalog.data.gov
  9. Spenser Walsh, "Hudson moves forward with citywide property reassessment," Daily Gazette / HV360 (Jun 16, 2026). dailygazette.com
  10. Roger Hannigan Gilson, "Exploring Hudson's Reassessment Mess," The Other Hudson Valley (Apr 24, 2019). wordpress.com
  11. Tiffany Greenwaldt-Simon, Hudson 2025 budget, Daily Gazette / HV360 (Nov 27, 2024). dailygazette.com
  12. "Hudson's proposed $19.6M budget calls for 3.9% tax hike," Daily Gazette / HV360 (Nov 2025). dailygazette.com
  13. Spenser Walsh, Common Council rejects mayor's budget, Daily Gazette / HV360 (Nov 28, 2025). dailygazette.com
  14. Spenser Walsh, Mayor Ferris pay cut and 2027 budget, Daily Gazette / HV360 (Oct 2, 2026). dailygazette.com
  15. "Columbia County approves $186M 2026 budget," Daily Gazette / HV360 (Dec 2025). dailygazette.com
  16. Columbia County 2025 budget, Daily Gazette / HV360 (Dec 2024). dailygazette.com
  17. HCSD levy history: 2019-20 · 2020-21 · 2021-22 · 2022-23 · 2023-24 · 2024-25 · 2025-26
  18. HCSD, "2026-27 Budget Vote & School Board Election Results" (May 19, 2026). hudsoncsd.org
  19. "Hudson adopts $59.1M school budget with 5.8% tax hike," Daily Gazette / HV360 (Apr 2026). dailygazette.com
  20. HCSD, Budget Presentation #4 (Mar 17, 2026). hudsoncsd.org
  21. HCSD, "School Taxes." hudsoncsd.org
  22. City of Hudson Charter §C18-7 (payment schedule) and §C18-5 (the City Treasurer collects county taxes). ecode360.com
  23. NYS Dept. of Taxation and Finance, "Maximum 2026–2027 STAR exemption savings by school district: Columbia County" (updated Apr 23, 2026). tax.ny.gov
  24. HCSD, 2024-25 Budget Newsletter (May 2024). hudsoncsd.org

The Weekly Digest

A Wednesday morning email for residents and neighbors of The Friendly City.