From Village Hall: A New Deputy Village Manager and a Report from the Village Assessor

Scarsdale has a new Deputy Village Manager. The job has been vacant for more than a year since former Deputy Village Manager, Alex Marshall was promoted to Acting Village Manager in September 2023 and ultimately assumed the position of Village Manager in September 2024. With no second in command, she’s been doing both jobs for over a year. At the December 10 meeting of the Village Board, Marshall announced the appointment of Stephen Shallo as Deputy Village Manager.

She explained, “The Village undertook a professional recruitment process to fill this position, led by our consultants at Strategic Government Resources. We had an abundant number of qualified applicants apply, and after a thorough interview process, the Village has selected Stephen Shallo. Stephen has a robust government career, coming to us from the Village of Bronxville, where he has worked since July of 2019, and currently serves as the Assistant Village Administrator. Prior to his experience in Bronxville, he worked in the New York City Department of Small Business Services as well as other government offices in New York City. Stephen holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Delaware as well as a Masters of Public Administration from Pace University. I know he will make a great addition to our team here in the Managers office and we look forward to welcoming him in January."

Audit

H. Chris Kopf and Robert Daniele of PKF O’Connor Davies who audited the Village of Scarsdale for the year ended May 31, 2024 presented the results of their annual audit. They said they issued a “clean opinion” and commended the Village for receiving a “Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. From the Government Finance Officers Association.

Here were a few comments:

In the General Fund, total revenues were $64,051,337 and total expenses were $58,681,127. The Village ended the year with a total fun balance of $31,645,391.

A $460,000 shortfall in parks and recreation fees was offset by $800,000 more that anticipated in interest earnings due to higher interest rates.

The Village was able to use $2.6 million in funds from the prior year’s budget to hedge against a larger tax increase.

The Village currently has only $17 mm in debit that is scheduled to be paid off over the next 15 years, putting them in good fiscal health.

The total unassigned fund balance was $15.1 mm, representing 23% of the budget. Kopf said that other municipalities had also seen an increase in their fund balances due to payments received during COVID.

You can see the entire report here:

Committee for Historic Preservation

Amy Lawrence, of 15 Hamilton Road, who is currently an alternate member of the CHP was appointed replace Talaiya Safdar who resigned. Her term will extend until April 5, 2027.

Menorah in Chase Park

Trustees passed a resolution to permit Chabad to place a menorah in Chase Park in celebration of Hanukkah.

Tax Collections

During the Town of Scarsdale portion of the meeting, Village Treasurer Ann Scaglione reported that the second installment of Village taxes is due on December 31, 2024.

As of November 30, 2024 here were the percentages of tax collections:

99.67% of 2024 County Tax Levy
59.49% of 2024 School Tax Levy
66.11% of the Village Tax Levy

Assessor’s Report

Prior to the Village Board meeting, the Board held a budget work session where they met with Victoria Sirota, Scarsdale Village Assessor to review her office’s budget.

She shared some interesting facts shown below:

Scarsdale includes 5,757 properties with a total assessed value of $10,212 billion and a taxable value of $9,299 billion. This number increased significantly from a taxable assessed value of $8.9 billion in 2024.

She noted that the growth in the assessment roll keeps the tax rate level and that assessments of new construction adds significantly to the tax roll each year.

The number of new homes assessed has been rising steadily, from 25 in 2021 to 54 in 2024, despite the building moratorium, as shown above.

There is a growing gap between the assessed value and the market value of Scarsdale homes, with the average assessed value of $1.6 mm and the average sale price of $2.3 mm.

This high discrepancy between the assessed and market values has led to a big dip in the equalization rate to 74.9% down from an equalization rate of 100% in 2021.

The market value of a home can be calculated by dividing the assessed value by the equalization rate. For example, if a home is assessed at $1.6 mm, divide that by .749 to reach a fair market value of $2.13 mm.

Sirota also showed a chart of the number of tax grievances filed by residents. Though the number declined over the past ten years, they are creeping up again as evidenced by this chart.

See the entire report here: