Residents who lived in Piermont in 2001 and 2002 likely remember a major village tax hike—26 percent, to be precise. That year, the village raised nearly $600,000 more through taxes than in the previous year.

The extreme hike was an effort to remedy the village's suffering fund balance, or cumulative net income/loss. At the time, it was -$19,664—meaning the village had spent nearly $20,000 more than it took in. Trustees decided to fix the debt swiftly.

"We decided to wipe it out in one year rather than spread it out over several," explained Fred Devan, a former trustee and current head of the village's Independent Budget Committee. "The idea was to get it done so we could focus on other things."

The following year, residents saw a much smaller tax hike—they only paid 0.75 percent more.

See the graph above for tax hikes over the past 10 years.

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