Guess How Much You Pay in Westchester County Taxes?

Though Scarsdale residents usually focus on their school and village tax bills, it’s a little known fact that 17.9% of your property tax bill goes to Westchester County, just a little bit more than the 17.6% you pay to the Village of Scarsdale. To get an idea of the numbers, consider this: a Scarsdale homeowner with a local tax bill of $25,000 is currently paying Westchester County about $4,475 per year.

From your payment to Scarsdale Village Hall you receive essential services such as police, fire and sanitation services as well as the use of the library and recreational facilities like the pool and tennis courts.

But what do you get from the county? At a meeting of the Westchester County League of Women Voters at the Scarsdale Library on Monday, November 28, County Budget Director Larry Soule presented an analysis of the staggering $1.8 billion Westchester County budget and there was precious little in store for Scarsdale.

Strapped with mandated pension costs and rising expenses, the county has been forced to eliminate many of

the benefits to Scarsdale in order to fund county workers and essentials for the neediest. For example, the county will have to pay $68.5 million into the state pension system this year, and expects this cost to rise to $100 million in three years.

Though County Executive Rob Astorino made a valiant effort to get concessions from the CSEA (Civil Service Employees Association) who represent many county workers, the union leadership refused to negotiate. Currently the average county worker earns $71,324 in salary and makes no contribution to their healthcare costs. Astorino reports that the generous packages for county workers include health, dental and vision care with no employee co-pay, bringing the average cost for a county employee to $110,000 (including pension contributions). Astorino says that on average, these workers are better paid than other public or private workers in Westchester. Unable to negotiate with the union, Astorino was forced to cut 7.5% of the county workforce in the 2012-13 budget, reducing their number to 4,500.

For those not familiar with the work of the county here is where your dollars go. The county manages public assistance programs including Medicaid, provides healthcare, daycare, and special needs programs and employs safety and emergency workers, police and firefighters. It runs a large prison, the court and maintain parks and roads. The county also runs Westchester Community College and subsidize the Bee-Line bus system which is essential transportation for those who do not own cars.

Due to the budget shortfalls, the county was forced to cut funding for virtually all of the programs that benefit Scarsdale residents.

Several years ago Scarsdale received a grant from the county to assist with the flood mitigation project currently planned for George Field Park and Fox Meadow. However, there are no new funds for flooding in the 2012-2013 county budget –and therefore there is no county funding available to help solve the flooding of the Sheldrake River Basin in Heathcote.

Village Manager Al Gatta was hopeful that the county would allocate funds to assist municipalities with conducting a tax revaluation which is planned for Scarsdale. Yet in the proposed budget, the county has allocated nothing for revaluation, leaving Scarsdale on its own to foot the $1.75 million bill to conduct the reval.

Bicycle Sundays on the Bronx River Parkway had to be chopped from the budget as well, which will surely disappoint many riders. However, the county is looking for a corporate sponsor to fund Bicycle Sundays and hopefully someone will step up by the spring.

The County is charged with maintaining the Bronx River Parkway and the Bronx River Reservation that surrounds it. In better days they constructed a beautiful path and bridges bordering the river. But now that funds are short they have fired hundreds of employees and the area has been neglected. The storm sewers along the Bronx River are in need of maintenance and repair and the river and parkway often flood with raw sewage backing up onto the paths.

Westchester County formerly funded the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Valhalla that provides educational programs on horticulture, gardening and nutrition to name a few. For the coming year, the County’s $990,000 funding for the Cornell Cooperative has been slashed from the budget.

As the more fortunate residents of Westchester, some would argue that it is Scarsdale’s duty to pay more than our fair share to defray the costs for those in need -- and to provide funding to support Westchester’s infrastructure. But at a time when our own village is considering limiting garbage pick-up to once per week and letting leaves mulch to save money, it’s frustrating to pay the tab from the county and get so little in return.

Hopefully next year the county can lobby Albany to reduce pension and Medicaid costs. In addition, they should look for ways to consolidate departments and work with local municipalities to alleviate duplication of services. But in the short term, there’s not a whole lot to be done but write your check.

Pictured at top: Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino