Windham Receives Mortgage Tax From Greene County

By Michael Ryan

WINDHAM - Christmas is coming and the proverbial goose is getting fat as are the coffers in the town of Windham.

Government leaders recently received a plump Mortgage Tax check from the Greene County Treasurer’s Office to the merry tune of $154,856.

The dollars are dispersed twice a year to towns and villages throughout the county reflecting real estate transactions.

Windham traditionally budgets $80,000 annually in Anticipated Revenue from Mortgage Tax, having that number go haywire the past four years.

Downstaters fleeing from the scourge of the pandemic sent home sales and the price of those buyings and sellings not just through the roof but beyond the imagined sky.

It is a mixed fiscal blessing, letting wealthier folks fit nicely into the market but making it harder for blue collar families to reach the American dream.

The dollars and cents of the situation don’t concern themselves with such matters, more stoutly filling the financial pot either way.

Town officials, as they have been doing since the 2019 wave began, will happily stuff the free money into the General Fund stocking, perhaps setting it aside for a rainy day or helping pay off existing debt.

And the story does not end there. Windham already reaped $119,657 from their first Mortgage Tax payment, this past spring.

So doing the math, that produces a “sleigh bells ring, are you listening” total of $274,513 for the year, more than tripling the Anticipated Revenue.

Windham again was the star at the top of the Mortgage Tax tree, taking in more than the combined (and more populous) town and village of Catskill.

The numbers for the latest payment are: town of Ashland $5,846, town of Athens $40,820, village of Athens $5,810;

Town of Cairo $107,177, town of Catskill $108,893, village of Catskill $22,887; town of Coxsackie $83,241, village of Coxsackie $11,061;

Town of Durham $29,841, town of Greenville $65,922, town of Halcott $5,941; town of Hunter $66,416, village of Hunter $9,278, village of Tannersville $7,387;

Town of Jewett $38,908, town of Lexington $21,978, town of New Baltimore $27,208 and the town of Prattsville $10,875.

In other matters:

—Plans are underway to provide more room within the Windham police department as a new chief of police enters the scene.

A separate office will be created for the police chief, on the basement floor of the municipal building on Main Street in the hamlet of Hensonville.

“We will move the chief’s office and records management downstairs,” town supervisor Thomas Hoyt says, noting the ground level floor was recently made available.

For many years, the space has been occupied by the mountaintop senior citizens group, recently being relocated in the new ambulance headquarters on the west end of South Street.

Town records have also been filed there so rearrangements will be taking place, allowing the police department to spread out from what has been very cramped quarters, next to the court.

Everyday departmental activities, such as arrests and processing, public access and routine administration will remain in the second floor office.

“This is something we were already going to do before Tor Tryland left,” Hoyt said, referencing the recent retirement of the former chief.

Tryland officially retired in the late fall following a lengthy leave of absence, attending to family matters in his Norwegian homeland.

Uncertainty surrounded finding a new chief, given shortages in the law enforcement field nationwide and the fact it is a part time position.

The town, however, was able to hire Richard Selner who spent 20 years with the Greene County sheriff's department in numerous capacities.

Selner is highly respected and has a small town background, growing up in the valley town of Cairo. He is also familiar with the community, having worked here while with the sheriff’s office.