At Village Hall: Mayor Says Village is Advocating for a Solution for Tax Issue, Plus the Farmers Market is Back
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 2024
Ready to address the tax penalty issue, Mayor Justin Arest came to the March 12, 2024 meeting of the Village Board with an update and a course of action for possible means of returning penalties and fines to those who failed to pay their taxes on time due to non-receipt of their tax bills.
He assured resident that the “Village is doing everything in its power to advocate for our residents and to work toward a solution,” and working with the Village attorney and State Assembly member Amy Paulin to advocate on behalf of residents.
However he said that enacting a legislative measure in Albany, similar to one passed to allow Mt. Pleasant to offer tax penalty refunds, could take up to nine months to resolve.
He reviewed a new communications policy, (see below) to ensure that residents are alerted when taxes are due and encouraged everyone to sign up to receive emails from the Village by enrolling on NotifyMe (https://www.scarsdale.com/list.aspx) and Everbridge Emergency Notification System (https://member.everbridge.net/311440963535088/new).
Read his full statement below:
During public comments, several residents spoke about the issue:
Several residents came to speak at the podium about the tax issue during public comments.
Howard Burke of 9 Reimer Road told the Mayor, “I do appreciate your comments. I wish it had happened earlier. Advocating for the state is good – what was lacking before was communication and transparency.”
Veronika Roberts of 3 Obry Drive posed questions about what happened. She said, “Do you have evidence of who failed to deliver the two bills?”
Lynn of 12 Cooper Road thanked the Mayor for the clarification. She said, “A lot of people are being affected and are waiting for updates on the investigation.” She reported that she received another bill yesterday dated March 6 for taxes she had already paid. She said, “There is definitely something going on. What goes wrong? What caused the problem? We want to hear the details so that we know that no such error will happen again.” The Mayor later apologized and said that was a mistake.
Anne Moretti of 10 Pinecrest Road said there are 42 homes in Sherbrooke Park and many did not receive their bills. She asked, “Of the total number of bills that normally go out in September, how many were penalized for non-payment compared to previous years? As far as I can tell 500 people were affected. Clearly there was a glitch in the system. I would love to know the total number that received penalties. Is it possible that there was corruption of the data from the Village? How did the tax department transmit the data to the printer? Who prints these bills? As a realtor I promote the fact that our Mayor and Trustees present the best of us.”
Craig Zwerling of 4 Fairview Road said, “I greatly appreciate the towns efforts towards resolving the issue. What were the amount of people missing the first and second installments? In 2022 98% of people paid as of 1/31. This year there was a downward trend. Please provide data about payments made on time in 2023 vs. previous years. It would be helpful moving forward.”
Term Limits
The Board held a hearing on a proposed code change that would eliminate term limits for service on the Board of Architectural Review and the Committee for Historic Preservation. The same resolution would require the Planning Board to “complete its report and recommendation on items referred to it by the Board of Trustees from 60 days to 30 days.”
The rationale for the elimination of term limits for the CHP and BAR was that trained, willing and competent volunteers could continue to serve and their institutional memory would be valuable. Trustees report that it is often difficult to find qualified and willing residents to serve on these boards. Defending the proposed change, Trustee Mazer said, “Abolishing term limits gives the Board of Trustees flexibility to choose the most competent volunteers possible to serve on these boards. Every year we examine the composition of these committees – and some of the people who are serving are best.”
However, during public comments several residents spoke against elimination of term limits.
Mayra Kirkendall Rodriguez called in via Zoom and said, “I am concerned about term limits – the elimination of term limits make me nervous. We want to take advantage of all the educated people who live in the Village. We don’t want someone on a board forever. I don’t agree with the non-partisan system but I do thank you for stepping up. But why eliminate term limits? I urge you to explain that. I am strongly opposed to that. Get out there – and find people to serve.”
Bob Berg said, “I think the this is a stupid proposal. These are two controversial committees: the BAR and CHP frequently make decisions that are unpopular with neighbors. Some people call the CHP the committee for historic destruction. These are controversial committees and you want to get turn over on those committees.”
Paul Diamond said he is a former member of the CHP. He said, “I am in favor of term limits. If you have a problem with gaps in timing you can extend certain people’s term limits on a case by case basis. To set the stage on having the same people for 8-10 years, that is heading in the wrong direction.”
Publication of Meeting Notices
A hearing was held on a proposed law to standardize the requirements for the publication of meeting notifications. Under the new law, when notices of a public hearing
are required to be published in the newspaper, it will be published in the official
newspaper at least once and at least five (5) days before the public hearing.
There were no comments on this code change.
Sandwich Boards on Sidewalks
A proposed code change would allow owners of retail businesses and food purveyors to place sandwich boards advertising their offerings on the sidewalk in front of their stores. The signs can be no larger than 36” high by 15” wide. The business owner will need to get a permit from the Village Engineer to post the sign.
Public Comments
Bob Harrison urged the board not to propose a budget that exceeded the tax cap. He pointed out interest rate projections from the Federal Reserve which are not projected to drop. He was disappointed that the Treasurer’s Report did not include a report on investments.
Mayra Kirkendall Rodriguez called in for a second time. She said, “I did not say it was an illegitimate election. But there is very little democracy here. You were selected by a closed door committee. I do appreciate the hours you put in.” She continued, “If you can’t fill a board, call me! We can get people in.” Referring to the discussion about term limits she said, “There’s an expression, politicians and diapers need to be changed often.”
She then reported that longtime Scarsdale resident Lucas Meyer passed away that morning. She said, “He loved the non-partisan system. He was a big fan of neighborhood character and preservation.”
Trustee Reports
There is a ban on gas leaf blowers until October 31, 2024. Residents are advised to avoid fines by not using gas leaf blowers.
Trustee Brew said that the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale had budget analysis session and consensus meeting on Monday March 11 about the Village budget and they will deliver a point of view on the budget at an upcoming meeting.
Trustee Ahuja used his time to defend the non-partisan system and volunteers. He said, “Being compared to a diaper is a first. I want to comment on those who question the legitimacy of our government and the efforts of our volunteers. I want to say the statements that were made earlier do nothing for the people of Scarsdale.”
Farmers Market
Trustee Gruenberg reported that the Village has signed a professional agreement with an organization that will bring a Farmers Market to Scarsdale. The market will be held on Sundays, beginning at 9 am on Chase Road between Spencer and Christie Place from May 12 to November 24, 2024. She said that the new organization will bring in many new vendors and has good ideas on producing a good market for Scarsdale.
Grant
Trustee Whitestone reported that State Senator Shelley Mayer had helped the Village to procure a $100,000 grant to procure two new motorcycles for use by the police. These will replace some aging motorcycles.
Treasurer’s Report
Village Treasurer Ann Scaglione reported that as oof February 29, 2024, 98% of the school tax levy had been collected. As of 5 pm on March 12, that numbers was 98.6%
She said, “We are working with residents who have questions, gathering email addresses, and working with the post office. We changed envelopes to ensure that non-deliverables will get returned. The tax software company came in to discuss system issues and possible improvements.”
She said, “County tax bills will be mailed on April 1.” Residents can also go online and pay their county tax bill after April 1, 2024.
Election
The Mayor reminded everyone that the Village election will be held on Tuesday March 3/19 from 6 am to 9 pm at Scarsdale Library. Those wishing to vote early can go to the Village Clerk’s office and vote before 3/19.
Here is the Mayor’s Statement on the School Tax Issue from the March 12, 2024 meeting of the Village Board:
I would like to address the School Tax issue and penalties incurred by residents. We understand there are many residents who are frustrated with and upset by what has transpired. They, like the Village Board, are eager to seek a resolution on this matter. Our hope is to offer some relief in response to what we believe was a failure by the United States Post Office to deliver tax bills in late August/early September 2023. However, determining exactly what that relief will look like and when residents can hope to receive any relief will take some time.
I want to reassure you that the Village is doing everything in its power to advocate for our residents and to work toward a solution. Our goal is always to do what is fair to individual taxpayers, while keeping the best interests of the overall community in mind. Our job as trustees is also to be aware of the consequences of the choices we make today and how those choices may impact residents and our community in the future.
We have been working with counsel and studying the NYS Real Property Tax Law and continue to believe that extremely limited options are available to local municipalities to waive or reduce penalties in circumstances that are similar to what Scarsdale residents are currently facing. Despite these significant obstacles, we have been working closely with our state assembly member, Amy Paulin, and her office to explore possible solutions, including special legislative remedies, and to advocate for our residents at the State level as appropriate.
We are aware of what occurred in Mount Pleasant in 2019 in response to the USPS’s failure to deliver bills. The Board has asked Assemblymember Paulin for assistance to understand the process for how to move forward with a formal request from this board to her office for help in achieving relief and what the timeline would be.
To level-set expectations, the Mount Pleasant case took nearly 9 months to resolve and involved special legislation passed by the Assembly and Senate at the State level and an endorsement by the Governor, as well as additional months for the comptroller’s office to ensure that the right taxpayers received the right refunds. Like Mount Pleasant, this would not be an easy or quick fix.
While receipt of the tax bill itself does not in any way affect the validity of the taxes or interest prescribed by law, we always want to support our residents and keep them up to date on important matters. We also want to ensure that any action we take this year in regard to the penalties is not precedent setting and does not set unrealistic expectations for what might happen in future years. So just to be clear, we are working with Amy Paulin’s office to request relief for our residents as appropriate with the State.
Moving forward, the Village is actively working to revamp and refine our communication strategy when it comes to tax billing. We plan to use all of the tools at our disposal to alert residents of tax bill and due dates, but for our efforts to be truly effective, we need residents to sign up for both NotifyMe (https://www.scarsdale.com/list.aspx) and Everbridge Emergency Notification System (https://member.everbridge.net/311440963535088/new).
Some of the ways in which we will communicate are as follows:
• Paper bills will continue to be sent out by the Treasurer on a set schedule throughout the year.
• In addition to paper bills, we will send e-blasts via NotifyMe to alert all residents when bills are mailed. These notifications will not be parcel specific but will include a link that any resident can use to pay property taxes online. We will also be sending out texts with the same information but again this is an opt in option and not one we can do without your registration. We do not have the ability to collect everyone’s contact information without your help.
• The current resident and parcel specific e-mail reminder system or a new one will also be used as well.
• We have already added the tax bill due dates to the PTC calendar. We thank them for their partnership.
• We will be working with the neighborhood associations to also send email reminders about tax collection.
• We will include reminders in Scarsdale Official, our weekly newsletter.
• We will also be sending out press releases and partnering with Scarsdale10583.com to post these reminders. We also thank Ms. Wallenstein for her partnership.
• We also would encourage everyone to put the tax dates on your own calendars to avoid missing payment deadlines in the future. Again, not receiving any of the attempts at outreach that I have outlined, including not receiving a paper or electronic bill from the Treasurer, does not relieve a resident of their responsibility to pay taxes on time. This is not a Village of Scarsdale policy, but something clearly stated in the New York State Real Property Tax law.
• As always, we are open to feedback and input from our residents and invite you to reach out to mayor@scarsdale.com if you have any additional insights or questions.
Board and Community Offer Thoughts on the State Tax Cap
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- Written by Wendy MacMillan
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The District’s first Budget Study Session on February 5th, had Scarsdale abuzz with concern that the initial proposed draft for the 2024-2024 school budget exceeded the state-mandated tax cap. Budget Study # 2, presented at the BOE meeting on Monday March 4th, gave way to a deeper exploration of the incredible amount of thought and hard work that is involved in the budget development process and resulted in an hours long discussion between BOE members and the administration.
Dr. Drew Patrick started the presentation by reading a statement in which he explained many of the factors and reasons (including an effort to be more transparent) that contributed to the first proposal seeming so large. You can read more on that statement here.
Patrick went on to propose a second draft of the budget which included $1,061,281 in cuts and reductions in expenditures. After a thorough presentation by administrators, members of the Board were given the floor to ask clarifying questions and share their thoughts and concerns. Although it is near impossible to detail almost four hours of the deep and contemplative conversation, here are just a few of the highlights:
School Board President Ron Schulhof explained that we are not the only school district in our area to consider going over the tax cap and, in fact, a few districts have already announced that their proposed budgets will exceed the state’s tax cap.
Board members offered their thoughts:
Jim Dugan hopes that voters will focus on the needs of our students here in Scarsdale and not a political tax cap mandated by Albany, he also recognizes that the Board acts as stewards of the resident’s tax dollars and suggests we get as close to the tax cap as possible.
Colleen Brown agreed with Dugan and would prefer our budget to be closer to the tax cap but she would also like to better understand the cuts being proposed, and what the impact of those cuts would be.
Suzie Hahn said she hopes to remember that when we are talking dollars and cents, that we remain student focused.
Robert Klein expressed his concern about the costs associated with FTEs and questioned whether or not we could sustain new hires. He also thinks it is important for the community to understand what is at stake if the budget isn’t passed and is concerned about the possibility of an austerity budget.
Amber Yusuf shared her concern with not hiring a Special Education Administrator, a pressing need that she explained was deferred from last year’s budget. She also expressed her worry of potentially cutting the funds for “Varsity B” teams at the high school citing the direct impact this would have on our student’s physical, social, and emotional well-being.
Jessica Resnick-Ault shares Yusuf’s concerns and adds that she fears that eliminating these teams would have an inequitable impact on girl’s sports.
During the Public Comment portion of the business meeting, Robert Berg spoke via Zoom and warned that the last time the District proposed a budget that exceeded the tax cap, it was overwhelmingly rejected by the community. Berg also felt that our district administrators suffered consequences for not being more fiscally conservative.
Art Rublin also spoke via Zoom and first expressed his appreciation for the important work that everyone is doing in regard to the budget planning process. He then made clear that before 2011, there was no such thing as a state-mandated tax cap. Rublin further explained that the tax cap was first instituted as a political move by Andrew Cuomo and not a move made with educational best practices in mind. He urged residents to consider what is best for our community and posed the question, “Do we want control over our school district and the education of our children, or do we want to be a cog in the Albany system?” He recognizes that the District needs to be fiscally responsible but he doesn’t want an arbitrary number given by the state to dictate the decisions we make for our children. Lastly, Rubin feels that the 2013 budget was first voted down by residents in part because it proposed to fund the building of a new fitness center at the high school, something that some saw as unnecessary and controversial.
This is only a small glimpse of the thoughtful questions, ideas, and concerns communicated during the March 4th meeting. You can watch the meeting in its entirety here: With so much at stake, Board members urge our community to tune into the next Budget Study Session on Monday March 11th.
New Law Requires Sellers to Disclose Credit Card Surcharges
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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Westchester County Executive George Latimer, New York State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and County Director of Consumer Protection Jim Maisano worked together to ensure that residents are well-informed about a new law aimed at promoting transparency in credit card transactions. Effective February 11, 2024, this new state law mandates that merchants in New York State must provide clear and conspicuous disclosure of credit card surcharges to consumers.
On February 16, lawmakers held a press conference to announce the passage of new legislation. Latimer said “Transparent pricing is essential for consumers to make informed decisions. This new law will empower Westchester residents by ensuring they have clear visibility into any credit card surcharges they may incur and I thank my colleague in government Assemblywoman Paulin for her efforts on its passage and Governor Hochul for signing it into law.”
Paulin added: “This new law protects New Yorkers from hidden surcharges by requiring sellers to clearly post the price of a credit card surcharge. Credit card surcharges now have to be disclosed clearly so that customers are fully aware of them upfront and not just when they go to pay. The new law also prevents businesses from charging a higher fee than what they are charged by the credit card companies. This legislation is ultimately about transparency, fairness and preventing consumers from being misled when making purchases using credits cards. I thank Jim Maisano, Director of the Westchester County Department of Consumer Protection, for bringing this important issue to my attention. His idea is now a law which will protect New Yorker consumers.”
The new law limits credit card surcharges to the amount charged to the business by the credit card company and requires businesses to clearly display the total price inclusive of any surcharges before checkout. It aims to prevent consumers from being surprised by hidden fees and ensures that they have a clear understanding of the costs associated with credit card transactions.
Maisano said: “This law reinforces the principles of fairness and transparency in commercial transactions. We are committed to ensuring that consumers are protected from deceptive practices, and this legislation is a significant step forward in achieving that goal.”
Village Investigates Possible Cause of Missing Tax Bills
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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After alerts from surprised residents the Village Board and Village Treasurer are now investigating why there were so many late tax payments resulting in high penalties this year. The problem stems from the school tax portion of the tax bill, issued on August 31, 2023. Residents have the option to pay in one installment or split their payment into two, with the first due September 31, 2023 and the second due January 31, 2024. For those who split their payments, the onus is on the taxpayer to make the second payment. No second invoices are mailed.
Village records show that 216 residents failed to make either the first or second payment and another 284 failed to remit the second payment.
Some residents are reporting that they did not receive the original tax bills in the mail or emails from the Village notifying them that taxes were due.
At the February 27, 2024 meeting of the Village Board, Mayor Justin Arest reported what he has learned so far about the issue and what will be done.
Here are his remarks followed by public comments from concerned residents:
Comment From Scarsdale Mayor Justin Arest
I would like to start this meeting speaking about the tax delinquencies from the 2023 School Collection and the timeline of events. My fellow Trustees, staff and I all recognize the distress of receiving notification of late payment and having to pay penalties and interest. We have listened to your comments and concerns and spent considerable time researching what has happened and if additional measures can be taken to mitigate this from occurring again. The following information is from the documentation we have been able to collect thus far, detailing the four communications sent by the Village to remind residents about paying the school tax bill. School Bills were mailed August 30, 2023 at 3:40pm in White Plains by the Village’s vendor, Ross Mailing Service. We have verified that Ross Mailing Service received the correct number of bills from the Village, and that the post office received that same number of bills from Ross. In other words, all 4,055 School tax bills were created as pdfs by the Village and both printed and provided to the post office by the vendor for delivery to the taxpayers. The remaining tax bills are escrowed by residents and paid by their mortgage lenders.
Scarsdale Mayor Justin Arest says the tax bills were mailed.
On August 25, 2023, all residents who registered to receive a reminder message from the Village’s tax notification and payment system, were sent an e-mail from the Village about the School tax bills.
The Village mailed School Tax Second Installment Reminders (not a tax bill) from Village Hall in mid-January.
The Village sent email reminders to residents of the second payment date on January 11, 2024.
As you know, we began splitting village and school tax payments in 2020. In the first year of a split school tax, 72.54% of total school taxes levied were collected as of October 31, 2020. We have seen a downward trend in this collection number since that time. That total percentage collected after the first payment was due declined in 2021 to 64.9%, 62.11% in 2022 and 55.64% in 2023. Between October 31, 2023 and December 31, 2023 (before the second installments became due), the Town collected $9,833,187 so that the percent collected grew from 55.64% to 61.94%.
As of January 31, 2024 (after the second payment was due), the Village had collected 91.245% of School Tax Levies. This percentage was 98.12% in 2022, 98.18% in 2021 and 94.11% in 2020. Late notices were mailed out by Ross Mailing Service on 2/12/2024 from White Plains at 3:45pm and emailed from Village Hall on February 7, 2024. Residents were also sent annual property tax statements for 2023 County, Village and School taxes printed on February 7, 2024 and mailed from Ross Mailing on February 14, 2024 from White Plains at 3:37pm. The Treasurer also notified me, and the Board that she had concerns about a low collection rate.
Ross Mailing Service has done the printing and mailing of tax bills for Yonkers and Greenburgh for over 30 years. They also do the mailing for many printing houses that handle other Westchester municipality tax bills.
The Treasurer’s office has been verifying that emails were sent using the office’s user interface for that system. Because of complaints from residents that they did not receive the e-mails this year, the Treasurer requested back-end access into the vendor’s system to reverify that those emails went out and garner additional details. Looking at the back-end system and comparing it to the information normally available in the system to its users has shown some discrepancies. That is currently being investigated with the vendor. To be clear, this is for the emails only as the hard copies are not handled by this system. I should also state that this initial review has confirmed that nothing in the process undertaken by the Treasurer’s Office for tax collection has changed this year. The same systems have been used as in prior years. When the split payment system was implemented in 2020, taxpayers only received the initial bill. There were no e-mails or reminders. The additional steps that exist today were implemented by the current Treasurer, Scaglione, once she began her tenure with us for the 2021 tax collection period.
We are continuing to work with the United States Postal Service to learn more about what took place. One possible theory is that the first mailing took place only about four weeks after a car drove into the Golden Horseshoe post office. Their operations had to make substantial changes until that location could be reopened. I did not include this in the facts previously because while the accident and closure of that branch is a fact, I cannot say with any certainty that the change in operations led to any impact on deliveries.
We did not start this investigation, nor do we continue it with any preconceived notions. This is not about blame. It is about determining what needs to be addressed, where potential failures occurred, and how we can do better. Even before the 2023 tax collection period began, the village began working on improvements. This includes the tax collection program, the user interface, and reminders. While I hope this is reassuring to many of you, it does not change anything for what has recently taken place.
When the Village initially discussed allowing split tax payments, former Manager Pappalardo was concerned that the end result would actually be deleterious for many residents due to the likelihood of an increase in missed payments. I shared this concern and while I voted yes, I noted that my preference would have been to do the split for a year or two and collect the data and revisit the issue. The data is clear that penalties have gone up dramatically since payments were allowed to be split beginning in 2020. I think we may want to revisit this in the coming weeks at least for the Village tax payment and decide with the community if bringing that back to one payment might be a wise option. Just looking at the raw numbers, the average annual penalties collected for tax delinquencies from the 2014-2015 fiscal year through 2019-2020 was $496,639. Over the last four years, which includes an approximate for what is expected for the current fiscal year, that average is $1,781,876. Again, the split was done with the hope of helping taxpayers during the pandemic. No-one in village hall or on this dais benefits from penalties. We go through an intensive budget review every year before this board votes on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year and work to match the needs of our community with our financial resources. We would much prefer not to have this money as a revenue source.
The laws regarding the collection of property taxes are governed by the NYS Real Property Tax Law, which is applied uniformly across the State, and the Westchester County Administrative Code, which applies to all municipalities in Westchester. There is no Scarsdale Village law governing the collection of taxes.
This investigation continues. We are working with our counsel as well as elected representatives to determine the universe of options available to us. When there is more information to share, I will do so. We appreciate your patience.
Public Comments
Some residents came to Village Hall to speak and others commented via Zoom.
Howard Berk of 9 Reimer Road said, “Our money was inadvertently taken by the village. These were unintentional delinquencies. I am not sure why a flag wasn’t raised earlier in the process. What can be done? Are there ways you can pay us back? Are there workarounds? Will you go to the mat to get our money back? I want to hear the vigor of the board in how we are going to get the money back.”
Chaowei Huang of 38 Lawrence Road said he paid a $1,000 property tax penalty at beginning of February. He said, “Prior to that I never received any mail to remind me about the tax. In December I called Village and asked if I owed taxes and told no tax was due. How much was received in penalties and how was it utilized?”
Wanma Ling of 12 Cooper Road said, “I moved from Hong Kong 5 years ago. All my friends rely on the paper notification. We always receive it – never miss it. We always pay on time. This year we did not receive a bill. We all love this community. If you found out the payments were lower than previous years did you do anything to warn the community? Instead of sending a penalty, why not send a warning letter? What went wrong?
Quansheng Tang of 64 Mamaroneck Road said, “We moved here last year in March. We received all the bills last year on time and paid. We were invited to register online – but we did not know that by registering online we would no longer receive a bill in the mail.”
Robert Berg of 19 Carriage House Lane said, “I am troubled by what happened here. This is not the first time we had this problem. It happened in 2020 and people missed the payments. Can you tell us how much in penalties has accrued as of today? There were red flags – and no one took any action. There was no reason not to send letters. We’re talking big money here. It’s not fair to people. Given that they can’t get refunds it is not right that this took place – given that this is the second time.”
Nicole Lemrod of 3 Murray Hill Road said, “I have lived here 12 years and consistently paid my bills on time. I was notified 0 times. I didn’t receive either mailing or any emails. Someone needs to be held accountable. I hope the board fights for its residents and finds a way to refund the money to us.”
Gerald Silk of 17 Burgess Road said “I have lived here for 15 years and paid every bill in a timely fashion. We live in a community and want what is best. What happened is unfortunate. It was an error on the part for the office. If the state law prohibits a refund, we should get creative and give a credit on future tax bills. For the good of the community, the trust in the process, we need this to be rectified.”
Andrew Ward of 29 Cooper Road said, “I lived here since 2002 and paid my taxes on a regular basis. A deep investigation needs to be undertaken. We never received the bills, emails or any delinquency notices. I never signed up for email delivery. The board needs to take a deep dive into how we are collecting taxes. It seems there is miscommunication going on. I never seem to have any trouble receiving any other bills. It is troubling that the Village Treasurer knew there was significant delinquencies in November and did not follow up. Are we relying on these fees to pay other bills? Who is accountable and how will it be rectified in the future?”
Elizabeth Ward of 29 Cooper Road said, “What steps are you going to take to get us our money back? We are out a lot of money. And we got no mailings. We lived here for 22 years and we have always paid on time.”
Keely Mann of 23 Cooper Road said, “I am the third person on my block who did not get the bills. I have lived here for 10 years and always pay my bills. How will I get back the fees and penalties?”
Junaid Chida of 187 Fox Meadow Road said, “I got the first notice but I did not get the second notice.”
Sheeta Mehta of 74 Drake Road said, “We moved here in 2014 and this is the first time we did not receive the bill. It was quite a shock when we got the notice of failed payment. Why is the penalty 10%. It seems like a punishment for all of us who have don’t nothing wrong. What is the accountability of the Village for these penalties? The law is all against the residents? Why is this a one-sided occurrence? Why did the Village not reach out earlier? We all love this community, we are proud to be here and appreciate what all of you do for the community.”
The Mayor responded to the commenters saying, “The penalties are not determined by us. The funds have not been used. Any surplus funds will go to our fund balance.”
About the two-part payment system he said, “In 2020 the decision was made hastily. At the time the Treasurer made clear that we could only send out one bill with two stubs.”
He continued, “We are not happy about this. We don’t want your money and we don’t want this to happen to anyone. We are going to do a thorough investigation. No one is happy about this. We have receipts from the post office of the mailing of 4,055 tax bills. (He later added the balance of the bills were sent to banks/institutions who escrow residents’ taxes.) There are some discrepancies in the emails and we are looking into it. The trends in other municipalities are the same as our trends – similar to the Village tax. She did send an alarm after January 31, 2024. More and more people are paying in 2 installments. There was no alarm because this is following a trend.”
Village Treasurer Ann Scaglione added, “Most people wait until the last few days of the month to make payments so it wasn’t until January 31 that we saw that payments were lower.”
During the second public comments session a few more residents spoke:
Howard Berk returned to the mic and said, “It should not be us against you. You have our backs.
There is a crack in the public trust. No one wants to sue the Village. That is not our goal. It is more about assuring us you will do whatever is possible to get our money back. Just knowing that we are all rowing in the same direction to make us whole again. Mistakes happen. I just want to make that clear.
Mayor Arest replied, “We are committed to looking into this, what happened and what our options are. We do have the communities back and we will look into this to the greatest extent that we can.”
Dennis Ziman of 5 Reimer Road said, “I have lived here for 15 years. I did not get any notifications and then received the delinquency notice. This is money that affects people’s everyday lives. I think the Village should appoint an independent investigator.”
The Mayor answered, “I don’t think we intend to spend tax payer dollars on an independent investigation.”
Developer Granted Approval to Raze Mid-Century Modern Home at 46 Lincoln Road
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Though members of the Committee for Historic Preservation seemed to have the will to save a Mid-century modern home at 46 Lincoln Road that were unable to find a way to do it at their meeting on Tuesday February 13, 2024.
Armed with new information about the man who designed the house, those who wished to save it were hopeful that his unique history might help the house to meet one of the criteria for preservation, that “That the building is associated with the life of a person or persons of historical significance;” or “That the building is the work of a master.”
The committee had held over a decision on the house at a previous meeting until they could get the opinion of architectural historian Andrew Dolkart. However, Dolkart’s letter fell short of fully endorsing the preservation of the house. In his opinion he says, “the most interesting feature of the house is that it was designed by an engineer rather than an architect and that Francis Holbrooke was a Black mechanical engineer. He calls 46 Lincoln Road “a very good Modern house” but says that Holbrook cannot be considered a master. He concludes by saying, “the fact that a Black engineer designed a very fine Modern house in Scarsdale makes this a special, and probably unique house in the village.”
The application to take down the house was filed by Raj Krishnan a local developer who was represented by Lucia Chiocchio and Joshua Kimerling from Cuddy and Feder. They also relied on evidence from Emily Cooperman and Kyle Toth who are both architectural historians and maintained that the home did not meet the Village’s criteria for preservation.
After weighing the evidence the committee members felt that the Black engineer, Francis Holbrook could not be judged historically significant or a master architect, as he was primarily an engineer who only designed one home. Furthermore since the home had been approved for demolition in 2008 and 2021 some committee members felt that they needed to uphold precedent and not reverse a prior decision, despite the fact that Holbrook’s history was unknown at the time of the prior votes. The vote was 6-1 in favor of approving the application. Casting her vote to approve the application, committee member Amy Lawrence expressed her frustration with the dilemma. She said, “We are eliminating our examples of mid-century modern homes in Scarsdale. We are un-diversifying the architecture of Scarsdale. This is an underrepresented home style in Scarsdale and a significant example of Mid-century modern architecture.”
However, the committee was fully convinced that Francis Holbrook’s story was one to be chronicled in Scarsdale history.
The house was designed by Black engineer Francis Holbrook, a rennaissance man with many talents. Leslie Chang from the Scarsdale Historical Society uncovered previously unknown facts about Holbrook demonstrating that he was indeed remarkable. She found that Holbrook was a mechanical engineer rather than an architect and a member of the Black professional elite of his day. He was a draftsman under Lewis Latimer, who was the only black member of “Edison’s Pioneers” who helped to bring electricity to the masses. Holbrook also worked for Alexander Graham Bell.
Holbrooke had connections to the family of Lena Horne, he authored several published articles about mechanical engineering and was involved in professional organizations. He was well aware of the challenges that faced Black professionals and even published an article in a Harlem-based magazine called Opportunity, The Journal of Negro Life, about the difficulties of getting jobs or internships for Black engineers.
Arguing that the home should be taken down, applicant Krishnan spoke of its condition, which is not a criteria considered by the Committee for Historic Preservation. He said, “The topography is not conducive to living. With climate change the stream that runs through the property drains 35 acres of Heathcote – and the water goes into that basement. The topography is not practical. To ask us to renovate this goes against my integrity as a physician. There is malignant mold in this house. We are asking for special dispensation.”
Krishnan is proposing to build a third house on the land between 101 Carthage and 46 Lincoln Roads.
Ironically, water woes are not stopping Krishnan’s quest to develop the property. He currently has an application before the Planning Board to subdivide two lots at 101 Carthage Road and 46 Lincoln Road into three and build the third house between the two existing houses. The area he plans to build on is a recessed depression between the two homes that includes a watercourse. He has proposed to divert this watercourse into the Village right of way and build on an area that now serves as a collection basin for run-off.
A stream runs through the property.The application was reviewed at the January 31, 2024 meeting of the Planning Board where many neighbors expressed their fears that the development would further exacerbate flooding in their East Heathcote homes and streets. The application will be considered again at the Planning Board’s next meeting on February 28, 2024. The notice for the 2-28 meeting says the Planning Board will consider the application for a three-lot subdivision and site plan approval related to disturbance in the adjoining property buffer in order to legalize an existing piped watercourse and for a wetland permit approve for regulated activities with the wetland control area.
