Town debt and your taxes.
Every dollar the Town borrows comes back as a payment on your tax bill. What Clarkstown owes, what it pays each year, and what a Bondar administration would do about it, from the State Comptroller’s own figures.
What the Town owes
The Office of the State Comptroller reports that the Town of Clarkstown had $139.3 million in total debt outstanding at the end of fiscal year 2024, in bonds and bond anticipation notes. In the Comptroller’s chart of 2014 through 2024, the 2024 total is the highest of the eleven years.
What it pays every year
The Town paid $14.5 million in debt service in 2024, principal and interest, according to the Comptroller. That is nearly $40,000 a day, and 8.3 percent of all Town revenue. Every one of those dollars is a dollar that is not paving a road, fixing a drain or staffing a department.
What it owes its retirees
The bonds are not the whole bill. The Town’s audited financial statements for 2024, prepared by Berard & Associates, report $207.9 million owed for the health and life insurance benefits the Town has promised its retirees, and the Town has set no money aside in a trust to pay them. The same statements carry a $44.6 million share of the state retirement systems’ net pension liability. Together that is $252.4 million in retiree obligations, on top of the $139.3 million in bonds and notes. The combined figure was $299.3 million a year earlier.
Where the money comes from, and where it goes
The Comptroller reports $173.7 million in Town revenues for 2024, and real property taxes are the largest source by far. The same data shows the Town spent $198.1 million in 2024. From 2014 to 2024, total Town spending grew 2.7 percent a year, and spending on general government grew 5.3 percent a year.
What the Town says
The State Comptroller gave the Town no fiscal stress designation for 2024, and S&P reaffirmed the Town’s AA bond rating in 2024, which the Supervisor has cited as evidence of a financial turnaround. A good credit rating means the Town can keep borrowing at a low rate. It does not tell residents whether the borrowing, or the spending it pays for, was worth it.
Where Eugene stands
Bondar’s first-100-days plan orders a complete forensic audit of Town finances by a national firm, with the findings released in full, and a review of every existing Town contract. His platform commits to reducing borrowing, cutting wasteful spending, eliminating patronage jobs, and pursuing state and federal grants and developer contributions before reaching into residents’ pockets.
Common questions
How much debt does the Town of Clarkstown have?
The State Comptroller reports $139.3 million in total debt outstanding for the Town of Clarkstown in fiscal year 2024, in bonds and bond anticipation notes, the highest level in the eleven years from 2014 to 2024 that the Comptroller charts.
How much does Clarkstown pay on its debt each year?
The Comptroller reports $14.5 million in total debt service for 2024, principal and interest, which is nearly $40,000 a day and 8.3 percent of the Town’s total revenues.
Where does the Town’s money come from?
The Comptroller reports $173.7 million in Town revenues for 2024, with real property taxes the largest source by far.
What does Clarkstown owe its retirees?
The Town’s audited financial statements for 2024 report $207.9 million owed for retiree health and life insurance benefits, with no money set aside in a trust to pay them, and a $44.6 million share of the state retirement systems’ net pension liability. Together that is $252.4 million, on top of the Town’s $139.3 million in bonds and notes. The combined figure was $299.3 million a year earlier.
Is Clarkstown fiscally stressed?
Not under the State Comptroller’s scoring: for fiscal year 2024 it gave the Town no fiscal stress designation, and S&P reaffirmed the Town’s AA bond rating in 2024. Those measure whether the Town can pay its bills. They do not answer whether residents are getting value for what the Town borrows and spends.
What would Eugene Bondar do about Town debt?
Order a complete forensic audit of Town finances by a national firm and publish the findings in full, review every existing Town contract, reduce borrowing, cut wasteful spending and patronage jobs, and pursue state and federal grants and developer contributions before raising residents’ taxes.
- Local Government Interactive Data: Clarkstown (Town), Debt Outstanding and Debt Service, fiscal year 2024
Office of the New York State Comptroller, data as of December 31, 2025 - Local Government Interactive Data: Clarkstown (Town), Revenues by Source and Expenditures by Object and by Function, fiscal year 2024
Office of the New York State Comptroller, data as of December 31, 2025 - Fiscal Stress Monitoring System: Town of Clarkstown Financial Data, Fiscal Year 2024
Office of the New York State Comptroller, FY2024 - Town of Clarkstown Audit Report, December 31, 2024 (Notes to Financial Statements: long-term liabilities, p. 50; retiree health benefits, pp. 58–59)
Berard & Associates CPA’s P.C., for the Town of Clarkstown, September 29, 2025 - Clarkstown’s Stellar Bond Rating Reaffirmed By Standard & Poor’s
Town of Clarkstown, November 21, 2024
All dollar figures are the Town’s own: debt, revenue and spending as reported to and published by the Office of the State Comptroller (fiscal year 2024, data as of December 31, 2025), and retiree obligations from the Town’s audited financial statements for 2024. This page reflects the public record as of September 24, 2026.