PRESS RELEASE

COVID-19 CLOSURES AFFECTS TOWN OF TYRE 2021 PROPERTY TAX RATE

The PROPERTY TAX RATE for the Town of Tyre was $9.84 per thousand dollars of taxable value in 2016. del Lago Resort and Casino was officially opened on February 1, 2017. With the projected revenue from del Lago, the Property Tax Rate for 2017 was reduced by 50% to $4.90 per thousand dollars of taxable value. 

Based on del Lago’s performance during 2017, the Property Tax Rate for 2018 was reduced again by nearly 50% to $2.50 per thousand. The Property Tax Rate for 2019 was further reduced to $2.25 and in 2020, it was reduced again to $1.63 per thousand.

Due to the current reported Coronavirus Pandemic, del Lago had faced a mandatory closure from mid-March until the Governor allowed the casino to reopen at 25% capacity on September 09, 2020. During this closure period, the Town of Tyre did not receive any of its allotted Gaming Tax Revenue from New York State. This loss of revenue is estimated to exceed 1 million dollars, significantly affecting the 2020 budget.

New York State Town law requires that the Town Clerk present a Tentative Budget for the following year by September 30 and it is to be adopted by the Town Board by November 20. The Town of Tyre’s Tentative Budget for 2021 was presented and accepted and then adopted as the Preliminary Budget by the Town Board at the Tyre Town Board meeting held on September 17, 2020.

Due to the uncertainty of del Lago’s performance for the remainder of 2020, and due to the ongoing reported COVID Pandemic along with very restrictive New York State regulations and guidelines, the Town has had to be especially conservative in the development of its 2021 budget. In setting the 2021 Tentative Budget, the Town of Tyre has opted not to include any projected revenues to be received from Gaming Tax Revenue in 2021. In effect, this has currently resulted in a Property Tax Rate of $5.66 per thousand dollars of taxable value for 2021, which is still $4.18 less than the pre-casino Tyre Property Tax Rate of 2016. Due to conservative budgeting with reserves over the past three years, the Town was able to hold the Property Tax Rate down from a much larger increase at the current time.

The Town expects that as the capacity limit is allowed to increase for the casino, their attendance and their performance should return to pre-shut down figures and the Town of Tyre will once again be able to reduce future property tax rates.