The Scarsdale Village Budget - What's In and What's Out
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The Scarsdale community tends to focus the lions’ share of their attention on the school budget, which accounts for about 65% of resident’s local tax bill, with the county taking another 18%, followed by the Village with 17%. Even though the Village portion is the smallest, your Village taxes pay for many of the services that define life in Scarsdale. Out of this portion comes funds for the roads, snow plowing and pothole repairs, recreation including the pool, day camp, tennis/paddle courts and fireworks, the library and even the community gardens you find around town.
For 2012-13, the Village expense budget is projected to be $48.5 million with projected revenues of $47.1 million. The revenues are derived primarily from real estate taxes that account for $32 million of the total. Other revenue line items include sales tax, recreation and camp fees, licenses and permits such as building permits, and fines and forfeitures at $879,000 (feed the meter or you’ll be contributing to this revenue stream!). Another big item is mortgage taxes which account for $1.4 million in revenues.
On the expense side, $7.3 million is spent on the Public Works Department, for sanitation, roadwork, snowplowing, leaf pick-up and landscaping with $6.2 million for the police force and another $5.4 million for the Fire Department. The Village’s employee pension payment accounts for $4.3 million with health and other benefits adding up to another $8.3 million. Another big piece is the library at $3.45 million.
Despite growing state mandated expenses, Village Manager Al Gatta has proposed a budget for 2012-13 that actually falls within the 2% property tax levy cap. There is a projected budget gap of $1,392,614, the difference between projected revenues and expenses - which would require a 4.435% tax rate increase. But New York State has allowed exemptions from the tax levy cap for certain projected expenses such as $303,000 in pension expenditures (.965% on the tax rate) and $255,609 in the loss in the assessed value of Scarsdale real estate, (.814% on the tax rate). With these exemptions the tax rate increase comes down to 2.044%. This 4.435% increase would translate to an annual increase of $239 for the average Scarsdale household.
However, it is important to note that this budget does not include funds for the tax revaluation project, estimated at $1 million, nor funds to alleviate flooding in the Sheldrake River area in Murray Hill/Middle Heathcote. The current budget does include $1 million for road repairs, which is in line with prior year’s appropriations.
So – the good news is that Village expenditures are under control. However, if you were hoping to see the revaluation go through, or to have the Sheldrake River flooding addressed, you may want to make your thoughts known. Consider sending a letter or an email to Village Hall or attending a public briefing session on the Village budget on Thursday February 23 at 6:30 pm at Scarsdale Village Hall.
Trustees Examine Village Code for Home Generators
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In response to residents’ complaints about a highly restrictive code for the installation of home generators in Scarsdale, the Scarsdale Trustees Law Committee met on the evening of January 18, 2012 to review the code and get input on revising it. The current code requires that the generator’s noise level cannot exceed 55 decibels at the nearest property line, that the generator be placed in the backyard and be positioned 20 feet from the property line.
John Goodwin from the Village Manager’s Office did some research on the issue and reported that since 2006, 151 residents have applied for permits to install home generators and 113 were approved. Variances were requested by 18 residents, with most asking for permission to place the generator in the side yard rather than the backyard as the code currently requires. Only 63 Certificates of Occupancy have been granted to date as some have not followed through with the building department or the installation has not been completed.
Goodwin also surveyed neighboring towns and found that most require the maximum sound level to be 70-75 decibels, rather than 55 decibels. Though Scarsdale has the same sound requirement for air conditioning units as generators, there are no requirements about the placement of air conditioning units.
In discussion at the meeting, Mayor Flisser noted that since she has been Mayor there have been three big storms, with power outages lasting 4 days, despite pressure applied to Con Edison to restore power more quickly. She noted that power is essential to relieve flooding in some resident’s basements during these storm periods.
Two local contractors were in the audience and provided information about the generators that are available on the market. Though a quiet generator that only emits 55 decibels is available, it is twice as expensive as louder models. The cost for the quiet unit was quoted at $26,000 vs. the louder units at $12,000.
Trustee Richard Toder noted that these generators are only used for a very limited time during emergency situations, and noise is not an overriding factor. He suggested that provisions for noise, setbacks and location be re-examined.
Chairing the meeting Trustee Brodsky commented that if the code for legally installing a generator is restrictive, and the price of the legal unit is prohibitive, it will increase the chance that residents will purchase temporary generators and hook them up themselves. This can be dangerous and therefore she favored modifying the code to make it feasible for more residents to install a legal generator.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the trustees asked the staff to make a recommendation to address the noise, location and setback requirements in order to draft code that provides more flexibility and would allow residents to install emergency generators without requiring a variance.
SBNC Announces Election Results: Here Are the Winners
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There was a strong turnout for the Scarsdale School Board Nominating Committee election, held on Tuesday, January 17th. A total of 528 votes were cast, up from 381 votes in 2011. Fox Meadow had the highest number of voters, with 138 ballots cast. Greenacres had the fewest ballots cast with 76 voters. Heathcote had 108 voters, Quaker Ridge had 105 and Edgewood had 101 ballots cast.
The following candidates were chosen to join the Scarsdale School Board Nominating Committee:
- Edgewood: Kathryn Conlon and Mary Beth Evans
- Fox Meadow: Diane Baylor and Mary Lou D’Silva
- Greenacres: Dana Matsushita and Barry Meiselman
- Heathcote: Amy Cohen Bauman and Peggy DaSilva
- Quaker Ridge: Debbie Hochberg and Tracy Nathanson
In addition, all six proposed amendments to the SBNC governing document were approved by voters. Details on these amendments can be found at: http://scarsdalesbnc.com/press/
This year’s ten new SBNC members will join twenty others already on the committee serving staggered three-year terms. The first committee meeting will be held on Sunday, January 22, 2012, and by the end of March the committee will nominate two candidates for the Scarsdale Board of Education. Lewis Leone and Mary Beth Gose are completing their first terms on the Board of Education and are eligible for re-nomination. The SBNC Board of Education candidates, along with any other candidates who may choose to run, will be up for public election along with the School Budget on May 15.
Photo Above: SBNC Procedure Committee handcounting the votes. Photo credit: Nan Berke
State Supreme Court Reverses Dromore Road Ruling, Clearing the Way for Multi-Family Housing
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Edgemont Residents were surprised by a January 12, 2012 email they received from Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner concerning Dromore Road. Feiner’s email said, “In a court decision dated January 10, 2012, Judge Gerald Loehr has reversed the Town Zoning Board of Appeal’s determination that the 2.26 acre property at One Dromore Road in Edgemont is in the Town’s R-20 Single Family Residential District and has concluded that the property is in the CA-1 Multi-Family District and can be improved with multi-family dwellings. In addition, the decision may have implications for the Greenburgh Nature Center and Edgemont community. The Board will discuss a possible appeal.”
The problematic situation at Dromore Road started back on May 24, 2006 when S & R Development Estates LLC (S & R) purchased the property known as 1 Dromore Road (also known as 62 Dromore Road) in Edgemont for $1.4 million. The property is approximately 2.25 acres and is located right off Central Avenue between the Greenburgh Nature Center and the Edgemont High School campus. S & R purchased the property, which had a one family home on it at the time, with the intent of developing the land and building a four-story multi-family 37 unit apartment complex with approximately 35 bedrooms per acre . The developers believed that the parcel of land was located in a multi-family CA-1 zone and at the time, the zoning maps did show the land to be in the multi-family zone. However, in early 2007, the Town informed S&R that there had been an error on the zoning map (dating back to the late 1990s) and the land was actually located in an R-20 single-family zone.
Of course, this mistake changed everything for the developer; S & R argued that their decision to purchase the property was based on the belief 
that they could build multi-family units on the site. In preparation, they had already demolished the existing home on the property in December 2006. S & R understandably was shocked at this new information and the change in zoning had a tremendous impact on the value of the property. In September, 2005 S & R had the property appraised at a value of $10,200,000. The same size parcel of land in a single-family zone would be worth substantially less. In March 2011, S & R won a Tax Certiorari Settlement reducing the assessed value of the parcel from $37,050 to $13,000 in 2010 (the revised assessment for 2008 and 2009 was $18,525) and S & R received a $61,000 tax refund.
The town corrected the zoning map to show that the property was situated in R-20, with zoning for single-family residences on minimum half-acre lots. After much legal back and forth with the Town, S & R lost its appeal to the Town of Greenburgh Zoning Board of Appeals who, in late 2007, upheld the decision of the Town's Department of Community Planning and Conservation designating the property for single family residences. Last week, the State Supreme Court disagreed and upheld the 2006 zoning map, declaring that the property is in Zone CA-1. The developer can now submit his plans to develop the parcel of land and go forward with his original plans unless the Town appeals the recent court ruling. Supervisor Paul Feiner has said that the matter will be discussed with the Town Attorney next week.
Many Edgemont residents worry that if multi-family dwellings are built, it will bring even more students into the school district. Already facing the 2% state mandated tax cap, these extra students will put additional budgetary pressure on the district. Others in the neighborhood are concerned about the loss of open green space in an area that is already over-developed. Understandably the Greenburgh Nature Center is also not happy with the ruling. Last, Dromore Road itself is quite narrow and not ideal for the added traffic that the development will bring to it.
In 2006, the Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) also recommended trying to preserve this parcel of land as open space. In a January 2007 memo from the chairperson of the CAC, Theresa Mae Tori said, "While small, this parcel is a link between two larger open spaces; the Nature Center and the Edgemont High School Campus. When the Town established its Open Space Plan, the importance to local fauna of connecting open space was recognized as an element in identifying land to be acquired."
Learn more, by reading Judge Loehr’s decision here:
Oppenheimer to Retire from State Senate, Paving the Way for a Possible November Showdown between Bob Cohen and George Latimer
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Veteran State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer has announced that she will not run for re-election for the New York State Senate seat she has held for 28 years. Oppenheimer, 77 years old, disclosed that she was facing major shoulder replacement surgery in 2012 which would preclude giving her undivided attention to her senate duties and a likely brutal re-run against her 2010 opponent, Bob Cohen.
Opportunities for move-ups in elective offices in Westchester have been rare. Aside from Oppenheimer’s 28 year tenure in the State Senate, Congresswoman Nita Lowey is running for re-election to her seat, held since she first won in 1988 defeating two-term incumbent Joseph DioGuardi (the 2010 special election opponent to US Senator Kirstin Gillibrand). The political rumor mill opines that Lowey wants to keep the seat to preserve it during redistricting -- then make way for New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson in due course. Scarsdale Assemblywoman Amy Paulin has stated that she was running for re-election to her assembly seat -- and speculation swirls that Paulin has her eye on running for County Executive against Rob Astorino in 2013.
The likely Democratic candidate for the Oppenheimer seat is Rye State Assemblyman George Latimer, who has held the
The major caveat, however, is redistricting. The State Legislature is involved in the redistricting process that occurs every 10 years -- and the Republicans are already trying to add a 63rd senate seat. Democrats are crying foul and Governor Andrew Cuomo has previously promised to veto lines drawn in a partisan manner. But time is running out for any rational, independent redistricting process to take place. Even prior to Oppenheimer’s announcement, the State Senate Republicans have been rumored to be trying to boost Cohen’s chances for the seat by removing Democratic leaning Scarsdale and substituting the more Republican Eastchester and Tuckahoe. Other speculation includes removing Ossining and replacing it with Pound Ridge. If some or all of those shifts occur, the seat would be easier for Cohen to win. Latimer is likely the Democrats’ best hope to retain the seat given his bipartisan reach.
