Town of Red Hook

LAW WOULD INCREASE COST OF HOMES:

A law that would allow Red Hook to apply a one-time tax on the sale of high-priced homes in the town has been given the go-ahead by Gov. George Pataki.

State Sen. Steve Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, made the announcement Monday. The law would ask town homebuyers to pay as much as 2 percent of the difference between the sales price of a property and the median county price.

If the median county price was $380,000 and a home was purchased for $400,000, the transfer fee would be applied to the $20,000 difference. At 2 percent, that would be $400.
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The next step for the town board is to pass a resolution putting the law on the November ballot.
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The Town of Warwick, Orange County, and several communities on Long Island have passed similar laws enabling them to apply a real estate transfer fee on high-priced home purchases.

Communities can use money collected from the fee for land and historic preservation, recreation and other programs.

The Assembly passed a law this year that would give communities throughout the state the ability to approve a similar law but the statewide measure didn't gain Senate approval.