Property taxes

A $6 million Friar’s Head refund drove Riverhead’s tax debt spike this year, but the bigger story is the town’s ongoing exposure to costly commercial property assessment litigation.

Riverhead Town officials fielded residents’ questions and complaints about rising property taxes during a hearing Thursday afternoon on the Town Board’s preliminary budget for 2026. 

Riverhead’s 2026 spending plan heads to a public hearing Thursday alongside a hearing on a local law to override New York’s 2% tax cap. The town's published notice of th budget hearing lacks information required by state law.

The Riverhead Town Board will hold a public hearing Nov. 6 on a proposed local law to allow the town to pierce the state-mandated 2% property tax cap next year. Here's what it means.

Friday, March 1 is the deadline for seniors of limited income to apply for the enhanced STAR property tax exemption. Information on eligibility for enhanced STAR and links to application forms here.

The district’s total property tax levy remains unchanged, but how that levy is apportioned — or spread out — among the three towns comprising the Riverhead Central School District had to be adjusted to correct a previous error made by the district.

Citing the loss of more than $15 million in tax revenue over the past decade — $2.7 million in 2022 alone — Riverhead school district officials say 'enough is enough.'

According to data reported by the Riverhead IDA to the state comptroller, net school property tax exemptions granted by the IDA in the decade from 2013 to 2022 totaled more than $15 million.

A Route 58 hotel property that has received Riverhead IDA tax exemptions since 2009 has gotten a more than $1.3 million reduction in its property tax assessment after taking the Town of Riverhead to court — and at least seven other IDA properties in the town are poised to follow suit.

This is a good time to reflect on the looming crisis we face as a community where affordable housing and jobs that pay a living wage are increasingly scarce.