Westchester County does not assess or compute the individual property owner’s tax obligation. Assessments are performed by the local city or town assessor; taxes are computed and billed by the local city or town tax department. The local city or town tax department also computes and bills the County portion of property taxes. Each individual property owner in the city and town is billed based on the value of their property; this value is known as the "assessed value".
The Westchester County Finance Department computes and creates 25 annual tax billings, known as tax warrants, for the 25 cities and towns in Westchester for the County portion of property taxes. The total assessed value of each city and town is used to proportionately produce the 25 County tax bills sent to the cities and towns. This Finance Department responsibility is mandated in the Westchester County Charter, and must be prepared by Feb. 1 of each year for submission to the county executive. The county executive reviews and approves the tax warrants and submits them to the Board of Legislators who formally enact the yearly tax legislation.
The tax warrants are signed by the Chair of the Board of Legislators and delivered to all 25 cities and towns in Westchester. The cities and towns, per county charter, collect the county portion of real estate taxes and guarantee the full amount to the county government. The cities and towns also collect their own local taxes for their municipal operations, school districts, and other uses such as fire districts, lighting, ambulance service, and local water and sewer systems, among others.
Tax Liens and Penalty Fees
The cities and towns, per county charter, collect the Westchester County portion of real estate taxes and guarantee the full amount to the county government. The cities and towns in Westchester pursue any delinquent property owners directly and may occasionally conduct delinquent real estate property tax lien sales or auctions. See a listing of the cities and towns in Westchester to contact them if you are interested in lien sales.
Westchester County does not receive any of the late payment penalty fees or interest charges imposed on late paying property owners. Those penalties are kept by the cities and towns in Westchester.