When Gossips reported last week on the status of the efforts to collect back taxes, the original list of 121 properties had been whittled down to 36. According to the latest word from the treasurer's office, there are now just 30 properties on the foreclosure list. Of those, four owe less than $1,000 and should pay what they owe now before they incur the cost of a title search. Five of the properties owe more than $100,000 in back taxes and penalties, and of those five, three owe more than $300,000. The current list can be found here.COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK
How do people owe upwards of almost $100,000 on a single property before City Hall takes action?
ReplyDeleteSharing publicly a helpful summary of public data that the Mayor's Office made available*:
ReplyDeleteTotal property parcels in the City of Hudson as of Q1 2026: (2,037):
- Tax exempt parcels (233) [11.44%]
- Partial exemption (504) [24.74%]
- City of Hudson parcels (91) [4.47%]
- County owned (13) [0.64%]
- Religious owned (38) [1.87%]
So 1300 pay full freight tax.
Some Observations:
1. The ratios are actually in line with larger cities in the US. But Hudson is a "city" in designation only, it is a town in terms of size and resident income. So the burden of a "City" property tax mix falls unfairly on property owners.
2. There are 1,300 parcels paying full tax. And within that many are "Welcome Stranger Taxed", and that is why a 2 bedroom house pays more than a private social justice center 4x the square footage on Union Street.
3. We wonder if there will be more than 1300 full tax parcels by next year's election or fewer?
The way to lower taxes without cutting services very harshly is to have more absolute number of properties, that grow in taxable value, and that are fairly assessed. More people on a safer bus.
Read more about why here: https://www.hudsoncommonsense.com/2keyreforms
The Mayor and CC President can work together to start a City-wide tax re-assessment this year for $50k (paid for by some of the $2m in outstanding taxes). This will drive more resident fairness and equality than a dozen distracting Quintin Cross manufactured false fiascos.
p.s. Many residents (including current Mayor Ferris) were briefly on the Tax Delinquent List... some overpaid, mostly due to the old software used to see and pay taxes, it can often be a simple human error. The now mayor, then private resident turned candidate for public office, corrected the mistake in the same calendar year.
This list contains properties out of date for several years.
The Treasurer's Office should be commended for their work to publish all this and use several non-interoperable pieces of mandated software.
A healthy city would immediately work together to auction these properties and use the funds to buy the building for the Hudson Area Library from Bard.
* [Kudos for transparency and responsiveness, a welcome change in City Hall that should be commended. Note we previously issued a bounty for someone to get these numbers and no one got it.]
The real question on this foreclosure issue is... are you in... let's call it the "Club 1300" or 1300 Tax Mules? 1300 Cash Cows? 1300 Sugar Daddies? Or Full-Freight 1300? 1300 VIPs (Very Ignored Payers?).
DeleteWe are clearly not as talented as Wail or others...
(but these 1300 owners AND theirs renters in buildings bearing the full tax burden)?
If you are, you should be asking: would we be seeing fewer foreclosures if the City re-assessed every 2 to 4 years instead of every 10? Would Warren Street see fewer empty storefronts?
You also have to ask whether local initiatives like the 3x Bliss expansion are actually helping, or just increasing the tax burden on the middle class to the point of breaking.
Some neighbors will argue that questioning these programs lacks "care" or "humanity."
But the "Club 1300" taxpayers already pay proportionally more than anyone else in Columbia County, and yet we still have broken sidewalks, struggling schools, and boulevards of broken dreams from Union to State.
Driving value for our tax dollars by cutting government waste and updating assessments is the truly 'caring' and 'humane' thing to do.
Middle-class families being taxed into foreclosure to subsidize inefficient city spending and whatever HCHC will complain about next week isn't justice.
The “Club 1300” framing assumes the only pressure on Hudson homeowners is taxation, but that leaves out a major part of the housing picture.
DeleteOver the last decade, Hudson has seen a significant increase in short-term rentals and speculative investment. When housing units are converted from long-term homes into tourist accommodations, the supply available to residents shrinks. That drives up property values and assessments, which in turn affects taxes and housing stability for both owners and renters.
If we’re serious about foreclosures and middle-class tax pressure, that dynamic has to be part of the conversation.
It’s also worth correcting the narrative around recent events. My name keeps being invoked in discussions that stem from a crash involving the sitting Common Council President. Residents asked questions because video circulated showing a public official leaving the scene before police arrived. That’s a transparency question about public accountability, not an attack on taxpayers or a distraction from the tax debate.
Questions about taxes, foreclosures, short-term rentals, and city spending are legitimate policy debates. But using slogans like “Club 1300” or redirecting accountability questions toward individuals doesn’t actually address the structural issues affecting Hudson’s housing and tax base.
If we want fewer foreclosures and a stronger community, we have to be willing to talk honestly about all of it — including tourism-driven housing pressure, assessment practices, and transparency in local government.
QC -
Delete1. Some residents rent out on Airbnb BECAUSE they have to find a way to pay the high property and school taxes when they are on fixed incomes.
2. After you and Claire and Lola pushed "rent control" laws, why would rational residents rent to someone like you and never be able to evict you, instead of a polite and respectful guest visiting Hudson to see Olana and spend money at our locally owned businesses.
3. High property taxes means rent go up for RENTERS. You try to drive a Class War wedge. But homeowners and renters are all impacted by property taxes.
4. If you want more housing, then build more housing. When you attack Bard for handouts (where btw you were employed for years!), when you attack market rate developers, those developers go and build in other states and towns.
5. You claim to be a social justice minded person.... and yet you attack an innocent senior resident and elected leader (on International Women's Day no less) instead of winning on election day.
6. You supported the Galvan Hudson Depot Lofts and their PILOT.
Why is it sitting empty?
Why don't you get HCHC's tax mess in order, or stop defrauding the Albany Free School, before wasting the valuable time of Mayor Ferris, CC President Morris, and others.
We pay them to manage the town, not to absorb your silliness.
Q -- you want to make assertions of fact, back them up. The reality is that the number of short term rentals in the city have plummeted since Commissar Wolff and her cadre forced the legislative change that destroyed the STR business in Hudson (after the STR business had already killed the B&B business here).
DeleteSecond, property taxes are based on sales (direct and comparable) for residential properties. And, again thanks to Comrade Wolff and her revolutionary committee, there are no commercial STRs in the city. So buildings housing both STRs and businesses are quite rare now. And, since only business properties are taxed on the basis of their profitability (if they are even taxed that way -- many aren't), the fact that a STR exists in an otherwise residential property has no effect on property taxes.
The reality is that the prior administration with its henchmenn in the council, screwed up our municipal finances to the nth degree. That's why our tax rates are so fucked up -- no reassessment in a decade (marked by a substantial upswing in property prices and, therefore, taxable values), no effort to collect past due taxes from anyone, and a continuation of a policy that ensures that there are very few STRs and that pushes up the cost of a hotel room here to stratospheric levels.
Structural change is indeed necessary. Let's see if the various segments of Hudson society have the stomach for the reality of where we stand, and rational policy changes dictated by that reality.
Structurally speaking, if the real concern is revenue and tax pressure, there are practical options worth discussing.
DeleteFor example: conducting a full reassessment so property values reflect current realities, doing a citywide vacancy study to understand how much housing and commercial space is actually sitting unused, and working with county supervisors to negotiate a larger share of sales tax revenue.
The city could also pursue direct state allocations for services like 911 — something Amsterdam successfully secured — and push for more collaboration and prevention funding for youth programming.
Another idea worth exploring is advocating for the closure of Hudson Correctional and transferring that land and infrastructure to the city for redevelopment. With the right planning, that could be a major economic and housing opportunity.
Those kinds of structural conversations are more productive than arguing about past administrations.
Just me and my AI thinking out loud.
Hi ChatQC - we appreciate you engaging in good faith whether writing tools aid or not.
DeleteOn this "conducting a full reassessment so property values reflect current realities"
Why don't you reach out to Mayor Ferris and the Council about a city-wide tax reassessment ... which will drive more value for all Hudson residents than dozens of libel emails and posts about the Common Council?
One wonders how the city is approaching the worst of the worst, especially the old church next to Nolita's. Would the city even want to foreclose on that property? What a huge headache (and worsening eyesore) that place would be for the city! It should be razed, replaced with something useful! If it catches fire (all abandoned buildings are a serious fire risk), we'll all be wondering why the city did nothing for years and years about creating a solution to that headache and eyesore. If it catches fire (there's a lot of old wood in there to burn!), let's hope the fire doesn't spread to any other buildings, like the building to the east with Nolita's and the apartments above.
ReplyDeleteWho suffers by the owner of the former church not paying their property taxes? Apparently not the owner. Maybe he's just decided to wait for the city to foreclose rather than pay any more taxes. Sounds like a smart approach, actually, given that he's obviously given up on the building. Long ago!
There’s a lot of rhetoric in your comment, but very little engagement with the actual policy questions.
ReplyDeleteNo one is denying that some homeowners use short-term rentals to offset rising taxes. The point is that housing policy has ripple effects. When more housing shifts into short-term use, it can reduce the long-term rental supply and increase pressure on both renters and homeowners. Those dynamics deserve honest discussion, not slogans.
On rent stabilization: the goal was to prevent displacement and provide basic tenant protections. The idea that renters should simply accept instability so property owners feel more comfortable renting is exactly why these policies are debated across the country.
You’re right about one thing: property taxes affect both homeowners and renters. That’s precisely why conversations about reassessment, revenue sources, and housing supply matter.
As for the rest of your comment — personal accusations, references to people’s employment history, and speculation about organizations — that doesn’t advance any serious conversation about housing, taxes, or economic policy in Hudson.
If we want real solutions, we should be able to debate policy without resorting to personal attacks.
Hudson’s housing, tax structure, and economic future deserve better than that.
ChatQC -
Delete>> 1 - We make our policy positions clear in (human) writing. See in post script.
>> 2 - Criminal convictions, especially by former or current elected officials, in the geography (Hudson) in question, are relevant to credibility and character. And new residents need to know so that they do not repeat the mistakes of the past.
I.e. You chose to run for office, you chose to commit crimes, you chose to libel common council members. You failed to keep HCHC in good standing with the IRS while raising significant funds and not declaring them properly.
Residents should listen to law-abiding leaders who win elections (Ferris & Morris). Not convicted criminals who lose (proxy) elections (Cross).
So here's a question, you are free to speak, but why should residents and elected officials of Hudson listen to you when you:
A - Misused City of Hudson and HPD Credit Cards (Mid-2000s)
B - Literally broke into City Hall (circa 2013)
C - had a Grand Larceny indictment (2016–2017) when you robbed a resident/visitor on Warren Street?
Not even mentioning whatever you are still doing with the Albany Free School assets.
Not even going into the unwise policy you have championed from defunding the police to bad housing policies.
Just think how much tax dollars you have cost the City of Hudson in legal fees, staffing during your month as a fugitive when everyone was looking for you, every time you submit baseless FOILs and now accuse the honest DA, and beloved HPD of a cover up.
Your once biggest supporters who paid your legal bills now speak out against you and fund your political opponents.
You throw false accusations (from Albany or Botswana) at Hudson taxpayers and and leaders then when your clear and factual actions are pointed out you accuse others of racism (falsely) or cry systemic victim.
The city is trying to turn a corner and you are an albatross around Hudson's neck; a persistent problem that hinders progress.
When the only "cover up" in Hudson is the fact that some elected residents still tolerate you out of respect for due process, even when you are no longer a resident in Hudson, and badger and harass hard-working public servants.
In closing, let's quote QC from a decade ago to ChatQC today:
“They gave me great power, I squandered it,”... “I stole money from the City of Hudson and I have an obligation to pay that back,”
p.s. On Specific Policy:
A: See here a deep dive on HCHC's history of "municipal extortion":
https://www.hudsoncommonsense.com/report-fbmob2
B: See this piece on Hudson's budget and (delinquent) property taxes:
https://www.hudsoncommonsense.com/2025budgetdeficit
C: Recap of the 2025 Democratic Primary where every candidate supported by you and WFP / HCHC in a competitive race... lost:
https://www.hudsoncommonsense.com/hudsonknows
Recall this is the election where Morris beat DePietro 2:1, and dragged Ferris over the finish line to trump Kamal.
While this piece was published a year ago it still describes you and HCHC:
"Those who clog up the council calendar with virtue resolutions about Gaza or legally dubious grant fantasies for projects like the (2024) Bliss Towers “Restore NY” funding are not, in practice, speaking for Hudson’s working majority. They are simply the people with the most free time, some half-employed or unemployed, who can afford to sit in meetings and make trouble while others are at work."
For new residents, and posting for the record:
DeleteIn January 2013 someone claiming to be Quintin Cross and previously commenting as QC, posting under "Social Justice Center", commented on this Gossips blog that the "City" (of Hudson) was playing
"Judge, Jury and Executioner"
when you (QC) were trying to block HPD releasing a security video of your break-in at City Hall.
Yet now, you are assailing residents and Common Council members who have committed no crime, who are involved in no civil action, and you are acting as self-appointed judge and jury... asking for the release of police videos and body cams that were never suppressed.
https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2013/01/another-response-to-moores-letter.html?showComment=1358608186812#c5657468656309663109
Narrator: Of course the difference is that video footage in the 2010s proved Quintin Cross' guilt, and video footage of recent events exonerate others.
~
This week... you are enlisting Common Council members Lola Roberts and Claire Cousin to (unwisely) do your bidding and hammer this issue...
effectively destroying their working relationship with the council for the term, and thus harming their 3rd and 5th Ward constituents' interests.
🤦♂️
The Cross Clown Chaos Circus Chronicles, Volume 3521
You can whisper, conspire, and repeat the same accusations you’ve been repeating for twenty years. People in Hudson know that pattern by now.
ReplyDeleteAs the old saying goes, only a hurt dog hollers.
What all this noise really shows is how uncomfortable some people are with one simple thing: accountability. Residents asked questions about an incident involving the sitting Common Council President. Instead of answering those questions directly, we get pages of personal attacks and recycled talking points meant to distract from the issue.
That response tells its own story.
People are paying attention. And that’s why residents will show up. Because democracy doesn’t work when questions are met with ridicule and character assassination instead of transparency.
At the end of the day, what’s done in the dark must come to the light. That principle applies to everyone — not just ordinary residents.
What many people are seeing right now is the appearance of two systems of accountability: one for ordinary people, and another for those holding power.
That’s why this conversation isn’t going away.
It’s also worth noting that comments were turned off on the Council President’s public statement about the incident. If the facts are as clear as some claim, open dialogue shouldn’t be a problem.
You all can keep talking. You’ve been doing that for decades.
Meanwhile, residents are asking questions — and showing up.
And I understand why some people might be nervous about that.
Re: "At the end of the day, what’s done in the dark must come to the light. "
DeleteThen why do you continue denying your midnight burglary at City Hall?
- Did you pay back the money that you stole from the City of Hudson and HPD?
- Did you pay the artist the $50k for the BLM mural on Warren Street? (We can't check because HCHC didn't file its IRS disclosures)
- Or is that just another HCHC debt unpaid and vendor bullied?
Look at the trajectory of irrelevance QC...
20 years ago you were the youngest elected xyz... dozens of residents investing in you and helping you. 5 years ago you could raise a lot of social justice money (and not declare it), 3 years ago you could incite a mini-mob against an innocent landlord like Foreland in Catskill... now Kamal lost the election to a new resident, Bard figured out in one month that you are an unsophisticated version of Sideshow Bob and cast you and your demands aside, and you have to mix 3 issues (fake manufactured outrage at Morris, the STR issue, and your astroturf texts (who pays for you spamming residents btw?) that started going out for the Vacancy Study) to get a few souls to ... checks notes...
attend an internal municipal legal committee hearing in a town of 5000.
This a few months after you proclaimed in writing that you are moving on from Hudson, to bigger and better things.
You are losing rizz faster than Will Smith after he assaulted Chris Rock at the Oscars.
The difference is the Oscars can ban Will Smith for 10 years. Hudson has to live with you, even after you moved to Albany.
~
But here's the end of this thread from us:
you (and HCHC) like to cloak your activism in the language of "justice", but you fail the most basic philosophical test of moral philosophy.
If we were to actually apply John Rawls’ "veil of ignorance" to your tactics, asking what rules of society we would agree to if we didn't know whether we would be the accuser or the accused, no rational person would choose the punitive, identity-based, anti-truth system you are trying to normalize here.
The Community™ , the new District Attorney, and the Common Council are all recognizing that the HCHC coalition is not a righteous housing crusade; it is an engine for grievance fundraising that guaranteed you and Claire and maybe your friends like Kamal housing and some money, but not those in whose name you speak.
All this at the expense of Hudson's progress and harmony.
The best thing you can do is step aside so that the wise elders north and south of Warren St can step in and heal, and so that the next generation can continue to rebirth the City.