DiNapoli, a Democrat, presented the city’s latest economic and fiscal profile to local leaders at the Heritage Area Visitors’ Center by the Kingston waterfront. From the Kingston Center at SUNY Ulster to flood mitigation projects, DiNapoli says the city has smartly planned investments to spur economic growth and address local issues.
“The kinds of budget choices and debt choices the city is making are all part of a very thoughtful plan to really build for the future,” he says.
The State Comptroller’s Office regularly compiles profiles of major cities across the state, and grants fiscal stress scores to help municipalities track their financial health. DiNapoli says Kingston has never received a fiscal stress designation from the state since the program began in 2013.
In his presentation, DiNapoli specifically celebrated the city’s “Weaving Waterfront Project” to redevelop the waterfront with walking and biking trails. The project won $22 million in federal funding in 2023. DiNapoli says Kingston’s $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant has also gone far, contributing to the recently-completed Dietz Stadium and a variety of projects in the Stockade District.
That said, the city still faces its fair share of challenges, the biggest being the housing crisis. DiNapoli says median home prices in Kingston surged more than 63 percent from 2018 to 2023 — nearly double the increase seen across the state during that period — to a median value of more than $277,000. Rent is also significantly higher since before the pandemic, with roughly 57 percent of Kingston renters spending more than 30 percent of their household income on housing.
DiNapoli notes this issue isn’t unique to Kingston. He praised the city’s efforts to increase housing and address affordability, including the new zoning code it adopted in 2023 and its decision to opt into rent control.
“The city was also one of the first municipalities outside of New York City to exempt from property taxes certain newly constructed or converted rental housing,” adds DiNapoli.
He warns the city should keep an eye on its budget and debt. In 2023, its general fund balance stood at $12.3 million — but the city dipped into that to the tune of roughly $4.8 million across 2024 and 2025. The Kingston Common Council had to vote to override the state property tax cap last year.
DiNapoli attributes this to rising costs, including the city fire department’s takeover of ambulance services last year. He says Kingston’s debt has increased as well: it had nearly $69 million in outstanding debt at the end of 2023. But DiNapoli says much of it is tied to necessary improvements at the wastewater treatment plant and the Cooper Lake reservoir in Woodstock, where the city gets its drinking water.
Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher, a fellow Democrat, says Kingston’s investments will pay it back in time.
“We have to realize that that is going to attract investment in 20-30 years,” she explains. “Not just public investment, like the DRI, but private investment, like businesses coming into the county and philanthropic investment, which the city of Kingston has benefitted from so much.”
Democratic Mayor Steve Noble says he’s proud of the overall report.
“This type of work that the comptroller and his office has done really allows us to be able to have that 30,000-foot view of how Kingston is actually doing,” he notes. “One of the things that I see with these reports is it gives us an opportunity to use it for really good purposes, like going to find other grant funding. Because you have helped us be able to tell the story about the status of Kingston.”
DiNapoli stresses that the profile is a “snapshot” of Kingston in time, and things could change as the U.S. enters a period of economic uncertainty. He urges Kingston, and municipalities across the state, to keep an eye on rising costs and spend carefully when planning their budgets for next year.
“The state budget’s being finalized, so we’ll see what the impact will be on state programs, on local finances. The real question mark though is the federal government, and to what extent will there be cutbacks, if there are cutbacks,” he explains. “Be a bit more conservative. This city depends significantly on sales tax revenue. What we’ve certainly seen is that, while there’s still growth in sales tax, across the state that growth is moderating somewhat.”
