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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 13 March 2024

Created: 13 March 2024

Last Updated: 16 March 2024

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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.

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 03 April 2024

Created: 03 April 2024

Last Updated: 04 April 2024

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Village Clerk Taylor Emanuel and Trustee Jeremy WiseIt’s official – three Village Trustees and the Village Justice were sworn in to office at an official ceremony at Village Hall on Monday April 1, 2024. Trustee Jeremy Wise was sworn in for his first two year term, Trustees Jeremy Gans and Ken Mazer were sworn in for their second two year terms and Village Justice Michael Curti was sworn in as Village Justice.

The four were elected on Tuesday March 19, 2024 in a Village-wide election and on Monday they were sworn into office by Village Clerk Taylor Emanuel.

Photos here:

Village Clerk Taylor Emanuel and Trustee Jeremy GansVillage Clerk Taylor Emanuel swears in Trustee Ken MazerVllage Clerk Taylor Emanuel swears in Village Justice Michael Curti

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Written by Wendy MacMillan

Published: 06 March 2024

Created: 06 March 2024

Last Updated: 06 March 2024

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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.