Tax Watch columnist David McKay Wilson looks at financial issues faced by individuals and businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked financial havoc in many Hudson Valley homes, with businesses shuttered, jobs lost, and retirement accounts hammered by the economic downturn. With unemployment at levels unseen for decades and the bearish stock market giving back all of its 2019 gains, financial professionals say it’s a time for people to stay focused on long-term goals, take advantage of...

Tommy Boniello, a Mahopac builder and real estate partner with Carmel Town Board member Mike Barile, died on Wednesday. Boniello, 63, was Barile’s partner at Lynlil Associates, a real estate company, as well as in other partnerships, including the building on South Lake Boulevard that houses Blu at the Lakehouse restaurant, which was co-owned by Barile and Boniello. His death came as investigations by Putnam County District Attorney Robert Tendy and the NYC Department of Environmental...

Tax Watch columnist David McKay Wilson finds problems in the mail-in voting process designed for June 9. Dozens of school districts in New York, including two in Putnam County, have yet to send out mail-in ballots for the June 9 school budget vote and school board elections because a Niagara Falls printing company has failed to ship the documents, citing production problems. The issue has arisen as school officials in close to 700 New York districts prepare for the first-ever mail-in...

Tax Watch columnist David McKay Wilson looks at the upcoming school budget vote. The mail-in absentee ballot school board election and budget vote, intended to make it easy to cast ballots by June 9, has taken a troubling turn in Putnam County's Mahopac and Brewster school districts. Mahopac and Brewster are among dozens of districts statewide that had failed to get timely delivery of absentee ballots from an Erie County printer who notified them Friday it was unable to deliver. (Photo: David...

For years, the town of Greenburgh has paid in full its tax warrant from the Greenville Fire District, even though it typically only collects about 90% of the taxes when it has to pay the bill in early May. This spring, the town had collected only 88% of its town and county taxes by early May. Citing the coronavirus pandemic, Town Supervisor Paul Feiner slashed fire district payments by 12%, citing an agreement he'd made with fire chiefs in the town's three district. However, the board of the...