Beacon In 2026
What the Mayor’s Annual Address Reveals About The City’s Trajectory
Beacon, NY’s popular Main Street in the Hudson Valley this winter.
Every March, Mayor Lee Kyriacou delivers a detailed assessment of the city’s condition—outlining its fiscal footing, infrastructure priorities and progress, community initiatives, and quality-of-life efforts, while setting the tone for the year ahead. Here’s a recap of the highlights if you didn’t get a chance to listen live to the “State of the City” presentation at this week’s City Council Monday meeting.
In his seventh year as mayor, Kyriacou opened with the city’s 2025’s highlights which include the rehabilitation of Fishkill and Teller Avenues; investments in trails, parks, and other quality of life projects; and the continued recognition of Beacon’s much-celebrated revival. Because it “takes a village,” as the saying goes, Kyriacou acknowledged the decades of work by prior mayors and city council members that helped get the city to this point.
A Clean Bill of Financial Health
Describing Beacon’s financial health as “the best it has been in decades,” the mayor shared what’s been possible as a result. “We have undertaken additional major capital projects in 2025: park rehabilitations, roads and sidewalks, and water and wastewater upgrades, plus continuing to build employee quality and productivity. We’ve done that while keeping property tax increases modest—by prioritizing and spacing out expenses, overseeing new private construction that adds to our tax base, increases in sales tax, and other revenues.”
Consequently, the city has maintained its Aa2 Moody’s bond rating, making it one of the highest ratings among Hudson Valley communities. This means reduced borrowing costs for long-term city investments—which is good news for everyone.
For 2026, the City Council passed a $37.5 million operating budget.
Here’s what you need to know.
A Lower Tax Rate
The city’s homestead tax rate fell again this year to $5.49 per $1,000 of assessed value. The same tax rate remains over $10 for the cities of Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and Newburgh by comparison. The City Council expects to continue lowering Beacon’s tax rate in future years by expanding its tax base with new construction.
A Slight Property Tax Increase
The city’s 2026 property tax levy totaled $13.9 million, a 4.8% increase over 2025 and below the State Property Tax Cap. Tax levy increases in neighboring cities like Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and Newburgh were 9.9%, 7.9%, and 2.9% respectively.
Staying Competitive When Hiring Essential Workers
The city reached agreements with all three employee unions—Police, Fire, and Civil Service Employees Association—over the last 18 months. The goal was to keep salaries competitive amid higher inflation. And while there was a significant increase in employee pay and benefits, the overall cost to taxpayers was largely offset by other sources.
A Higher Sales Tax Revenue
A sales tax agreement with the County provides higher revenue to the city.
The 10-year sales tax sharing agreement with the County that Kyriacou negotiated in 2021 continues to provide higher revenue to the city. Beacon’s share of county-wide sales taxes in 2026 is projected to be a record $6.5 million—up $1.7 million from three years ago—and equivalent to 12% of the city’s property tax revenue.
Revenue Continues To Come From New Construction
New property construction and renovations added $47 million last year to Beacon’s tax base, and $225 million in the past six years. These projects contribute new property tax revenue–the equivalent of 1.5 to three per cent of property taxes citywide—and have reduced the property tax burden of current taxpayers.
Beacon Soon To Become A Rail Trail City
The big quality of life news of the evening was the announcement of the city’s plans to convert the disused rail tracks from the train station to Main Street and beyond into Beacon’s own rail trail within the next two years.
Disused rail tracks that will soon be transformed into part of Beacon’s new rail trail.
With a commitment to rapid construction, a level trail would be created from the Beacon train station, running along the Hudson River, past Dennings Point and Madam Brett parks, along Fishkill Creek, directly adjacent to Main Street and the dummy light, then alongside Route 52 and ending at the city line. Describing it as his toppriority as mayor, Kyriacou said it “will be transformative for our community – allowing for walking and biking to our commuter trains, waterfront, parks, Main Street, and more.” The ultimate goal is to engage neighboring communities to partner on the full build-out of the rail trail so it connects with the 700-mile Empire State Trail System in Hopewell Junction.
Kyriacou also restated his support for the Fjord Trail with a reminder that the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail board just announced the acceleration of their trail construction in Beacon, linking it to the Beacon Rail Trail. “Together, the Fjord Trail and Beacon Rail Trail are foundational to enhancing Beacon’s health, climate sustainability, and quality of life – and we’re thrilled to have the Fjord Trail as a partner,” he shared, with the promise of more announcements soon.
Beacon’s Park Life
The 2026 budget for operating Beacon’s Parks and Recreation programs exceeded $1,000,000 for the third year in a row, compared to an average budget of only $300,000 as recently as 2014. Greater investment in Beacon’s quality of life programs has led to a large and continuing expansion of affordable programming for the young, seniors, and the broader community. Look out for a spring Youth Employment Program and an additional summer camp at Memorial Park later this year.
Good News For Pedestrians And Cyclists
Neighbors along Beekman Street will be happy to hear that the city is planning a complete street upgrade here. It is launching the engineering design phase of the Beekman Street Pedestrian and Bicycling Improvement Project having received a 95 per cent funding grant of $3.6 million.
The city has also worked with the Dutchess County Transportation Council on a Pedestrian Facility Inventory which should be completed by April 2026. Once finished, the inventory will provide the information needed to prioritize sidewalk rehabilitation and further improve walkability in the city.
Celebrating 250 Years American Independence
2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. As one of the only communities in New York State named for its role in the Revolutionary War, Beacon will be celebrating with a series of events later this year. Expect more news on this soon.
Infrastructure Investment Updates
Over the past six years, the city has implemented or advanced a record $52 million in major capital investments for its public roads, parks, water, and sewer facilities.
The city marked the near completion of the rehabilitation of Teller and Fishkill Avenues at the end of 2025. There are some final punch list items to complete that are planned to take place this spring. The city continues to mill and repave five to 10 per cent of Beacon roads as well as rehabilitating sidewalks each year.
The replacement of the nearly hundred-year-old water and sewer mains along Fishkill Avenue was completed at the end of 2025 in anticipation of repaving this spring. The new West Main Pump Station and Force Main near the train station, which connects part of the city to its wastewater treatment facility, were also completed.
The city has continued to modernize its Wastewater Treatment Plant, which will be finished in the coming months. It is also moving forward with grant-funded energy efficiency upgrades at the plant’s administration building in 2026. This will include new windows, lighting retrofits, installation of an air-source heat pump, and more. The replacement of the Mount Beacon water storage tank will begin in 2026, along with the urgently needed rehabilitation of the 100-year-old Melzingah Reservoir Dam, for which the city was awarded a $2 million Climate Smart grant.
Beacon’s Climate Conscious Strategy
Beacon is one of the first—and one of only 24 municipalities out of 1,600 in the state—to achieve New York’s highest Silver-Certified Climate Smart Community status. The city was among the first three communities to be recertified in 2025, which ensures continued access to the grants that fund its sustainability efforts in the future.
The installation of a new 100-kilowatt solar power array atop Beacon’s Highway Garage was completed this winter, increasing the city’s self-generated electric capacity to around 75 per cent. Beacon purchases Renewable energy credits for the rest. This project was partially grant-funded, thanks to Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson.
The city is using grant funding to transition its municipal fleet to electric vehicles, focusing on high-use vehicles. It added electric vehicles to four departments in 2025, and expects to add two more in the coming months, again with the help of grant-funding. It also plans to install three new dual-port electric vehicle charging stations in municipal lots this year. Two will be at City Hall and another at the Community Center on West Center Street.
Planning For Beacon’s Future
The Fishkill Avenue Concepts Committee delivered its final report at the end of 2025, and the City Council says it will be taking up zoning recommendations for the area along Route 52 in the next year or so. Without competing with Main Street, the hope is for the area to gradually include more mixed residential and retail uses, to be a part of the Beacon Rail Trail alongside the road, and to serve as an access road to the schools and Camp Beacon area.
Housing Affordability In Beacon
Almost 30% of Beacon’s rental units are in affordable programs—second only to the City of Poughkeepsie—and 25% of new units in the past six to seven years have reduced rent programs.
“Addressing the housing shortage in the U.S., New York State, or even the Hudson Valley is not going to be solved by Beacon alone, but we will help lead by example,” Kyriacou said. “We continue to focus on encouraging housing construction and other ways to address affordability.”
He continued, “the State has recognized Beacon as a Pro-Housing Community, which opens up funding options. Planning is underway at our train station to build housing (and replacement parking) on the commuter parking lot north of West Main Street – consistent with current zoning, including 10% of units with below market rents. And last year, the lion’s share of State’s Plus-One ADU funding for constructing accessory units in Dutchess County was awarded to Beacon homeowners; round two was announced at the start of this year.”
You can watch the full presentation on YouTube. And to keep up with what’s on in Beacon, NY, sign up to our weekly email and be sure to follow us on Instagram.
Until next time…
The Beacon Beacon🧡
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