The first tentative Village of Scarsdale Budget published after federal tax reform eliminated all but $10,000 of state and tax deductions has been published. Given that that the programs, services and payrolls my wife and I pay for every year are now 30%-40% more expensive than they were last year (because we can no longer deduct these payments from our income taxes) I was eager to learn about how Village government is responding to this huge de facto increase in our property tax rates. I’ll outline the Village response after some general observations I made while skimming the 186-page tome, and I encourage all taxpayers to download the tentative budget and give it a good read. Personally I paid scant attention to this in the past, but realize its 30%-40% more important to my family now.