The Town of Cortlandt mailed its 2026-27 school tax bills on September 1. The first installment was due September 30, and the second is due January 31. The Town does not send a reminder for the second one. That means many Cortlandt Manor listings this fall still show a tax figure from a bill that has already been replaced. In most towns that gap is a rounding error. In the Hendrick Hudson part of Cortlandt Manor, it is the gap between a tax rate that Indian Point helped pay for and one the homeowners increasingly pay for themselves.
Two homes a few miles apart in the same ZIP code can carry school tax bills that are moving at very different speeds. If you compare them on last year's numbers, you are comparing the past.
A Cortlandt Manor Address Can Fall in Any of Five Tax Districts
The Town of Cortlandt's Receiver of Taxes collects school taxes for five districts: Croton-Harmon, Hendrick Hudson, Lakeland, Putnam Valley, and Yorktown. Furnace Woods Elementary is a Hendrick Hudson school. Van Cortlandtville, Lincoln-Titus, George Washington, and Walter Panas belong to Lakeland. A 10567 mailing address does not tell you which district a property pays into. The Town assessor's parcel-data portal and GIS will.
Here is how the Town's own 2025-26 rate sheet put the districts side by side, per $1,000 of assessed value:
| District | 2025-26 school tax rate | Total rate with library | Change from prior year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hendrick Hudson | 1,250.86 | 1,283.48 | 4.32% |
| Croton-Harmon | 1,341.14 | 1,370.23 | 2.29% |
| Yorktown | 1,611.22 | 1,611.22 | 7.59% |
| Lakeland | 1,628.67 | 1,628.67 | 3.88% |
| Putnam Valley | 1,659.14 | 1,679.24 | -4.92% |
For 2025-26, Hendrick Hudson's school rate was about 23% lower than Lakeland's. That gap is the part of the story a buyer sees. The rest of this post covers why the gap existed and why it is closing.
Why the Hendrick Hudson Column Was the Low One
The Hendrick Hudson Central School District serves the northwestern corner of Westchester inside the Town of Cortlandt. The River Journal reported this spring that district leaders describe the community as historically more affordable than much of the county, "in part due to the presence of Indian Point." For years the plant's payments in lieu of taxes covered a large share of the school budget, and individual homeowners didn't have to.
The plant closed in 2021. Superintendent Michael Tromblee told the community that the shutdown cut the district's overall revenue base by 25 to 30 percent. He put the shortfall for the 2026-27 school year at more than $25 million. The district has cut staffing from 654 positions in 2023-24 to roughly 602 through attrition. Cuts like that slow the climb in the tax rate, but they don't reverse it.
What the 2026-27 Budgets Did to the Gap
This spring, the two largest districts in Cortlandt Manor made very different choices.
Hendrick Hudson adopted a $102,611,139 budget with a $58,037,942 tax levy. That is a 6.49% levy increase, well above the 2.82% the state tax cap would have allowed, so the budget needed a supermajority. Voters approved it 986 to 590 on May 19, 2026, about 62.6% in favor, just over the 60% threshold. The district estimated the new Town of Cortlandt rate at $1,354 per $1,000 of assessed value. On a home with a $500,000 market value, that works out to about $7,995 in school taxes before exemptions, $488 more than the year before.
Lakeland adopted a $202,072,582 budget with a 2.20% levy increase. That was exactly its calculated cap, so no override was needed. Its presentation estimated a 0.2% school tax rate increase for the Cortlandt portion of the district. Voters approved it 1,029 to 604 in preliminary results the same day.
On the districts' own estimates, the difference between the Hendrick Hudson and Lakeland school rates shrinks by roughly a quarter in a single year. The Town had not posted a final 2026-27 rate sheet when we checked, so treat these as estimates until the Receiver of Taxes publishes final rates. Hendrick Hudson still had the lower rate. But it was rising faster, and the reasons point to more increases ahead.
The Money Still Holding the Rate Down
Hendrick Hudson's adopted budget lists three revenue lines that are temporary, shrinking, or both:
- PILOT payments from Holtec and the Westchester County Resource Recovery Facility: about $5.99 million. The district's budget cites an S&P Global Ratings outlook that expects this revenue to disappear within the next three years.
- The state Electric Generation Facility Cessation Mitigation Fund: $6.16 million for 2026-27, down from $8.6 million the year before.
- Reserves: about $7.56 million in fund balance used to close the gap.
Together these come to roughly $19.7 million, about a third of the $58 million that homeowners and businesses will pay through the levy. As each line shrinks, the cost moves onto the tax bill.
The cessation fund is the one piece with a decision still pending. The program is set to expire in 2028. State Senator Pete Harckham and Assemblymember Dana Levenberg sponsored S9617A/A10949, which would extend it by five years. The Senate passed it on June 2 and the Assembly on June 5. The state's bill tracker shows no action by the governor after that. In July, the district and the Town were still asking residents to write to Governor Hochul. They said the extension would bring in more than $20 million over five years, and the Hendrick Hudson PTA Advocacy Committee's campaign had collected more than 1,100 letters by July 17.
Cortlandt Town Supervisor Dr. Richard Becker has said Town residents face school tax increases of up to 8%. He argued that a longer cessation timeline would let the district raise taxes "in an incremental stepwise fashion." Whether or not the bill is signed, Hendrick Hudson's rate is expected to keep catching up. The bill mainly decides how quickly.
Why the Indian Point Site Won't Restore the Tax Base Soon
Buyers sometimes assume whatever replaces the plant will rebuild the tax base. The timeline doesn't support that for anyone buying now. A July 2026 Peekskill Herald report put Holtec's full site restoration at 2062, with major building demolition planned for 2032 to 2038. Inside Climate News reported in September that Holtec's IPO filing lists a data center, a warehouse, or residential use as possible future options for the site. Holtec says it is not talking with developers.
For a buyer with a typical holding period, the realistic plan is a Hendrick Hudson rate that keeps closing in on its neighbors, not one that drops back.
What to Check Before You Make an Offer
This is information about how the bills work, not tax advice. Your accountant or attorney can apply it to your situation.
- Confirm the district by parcel. Use the Town's parcel portal or GIS. Don't rely on the ZIP code or the hamlet name.
- Ask for the 2026-27 bill. Bills went out September 1, so the seller has the current figure. A listing that still shows the 2025-26 amount understates the cost of a Hendrick Hudson home more than a Lakeland one.
- Find out who has paid what. With the second installment due January 31 and no reminder from the Town, a closing this winter needs a clear record of what has been paid.
- Budget for more increases on the Hendrick Hudson side. Plan for further increases beyond this year's, and check the governor's action on S9617A before you settle on a number.
- Factor exemptions in separately. The district's $7,995 example is before exemptions. STAR savings differ by district on the Town's rate sheet.
Sellers face the other side of this. A buyer who has done this homework will discount a Hendrick Hudson listing based on next year's bill, not last year's. Pricing with that in mind from the start avoids a renegotiation later. Our Cortlandt Manor neighborhood page and our post on selling a home in Cortlandt Manor cover the rest of preparing a sale.
A Few Questions We Hear
Is Hendrick Hudson still the lower-tax district in Cortlandt? On the 2025-26 Town sheet and the 2026-27 estimates, yes. It is also the district whose rate rose fastest this year, and its budget depends on revenue it expects to lose.
When will the final 2026-27 rates be posted? The Receiver of Taxes page still linked to the 2025-26 sheet when we checked, and the 2026-27 file wasn't online yet. Your own September 1 bill is the most reliable figure for now.
Does the Lakeland side face anything similar? Lakeland stayed at its cap this year and estimated a 0.2% rate change for its Cortlandt portion. Nothing in its adopted budget points to an Indian Point-style revenue gap.
If you're weighing a Hendrick Hudson address against a Lakeland one, or getting ready to sell a home where the tax bill will come up in negotiation, The Nancy Kennedy Team can go through the current-year bill, the parcel's district, and what comparable homes have sold for since the new rates took effect. Request a local market consultation, or start with a home valuation that takes the new tax figures into account.
