Holiday Fire Safety Tips
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Winter is on the way, so most of us have turned on our heat at home. However, heating equipment — especially portable space heaters, fireplaces and wood stoves — require careful use to prevent a fire. Each holiday season, there are thousands of kitchen and home fires in America, resulting in more than 400 deaths just last year. Here are some tips to prevent one in your home:
- If you're using a new portable space heater read the label to make sure it is safety tested. Place space heaters a safe distance from anything that can burn, such as curtains, pillows, or fabric furniture.
- Keep an eye on the stove top with BOTH electric and gas burners and, if you plan to use your fireplace this winter, have it inspected. Creosote can build up from previous years’ fires, and can cause chimney fires, so it’s worth having a professional inspect your fireplace and chimney for the holidays and cold winter season. Creosote logs may help prevent further buildup, but they won’t work on one or two year old chimney dirt and soot.
- Fireplaces and wood stoves work best when we burn seasoned hardwood, like oak, ash or maple. Don’t burn trash, cardboard boxes or Christmas trees because they burn very hot and unevenly, and contain potential poisons that can be carried into your home, where they could contribute to a home fire.
- When you have a blaze in the fireplace, or a space heater to warm a chilly corner, remember to have an adult in the room at all times. This is especially true when there are young children playing nearby.
- Use sturdy screens, or glass doors, to keep embers inside fireplaces and young children and pets away from an enticing fireplace. Also, check the flue lever, and open your flue before lighting a fire.
- Install at least one smoke alarm on every level of your home, especially near your family’s bedrooms. Remember to change the batteries on existing alarms and think about putting another unit at the top of a staircase, or at the entrance to your home’s sleeping areas.
- Contact your local fire station, if you have questions about home fire safety.
Fire safety tips provided by Servpro of Scarsdale / Mount Vernon, fire, water and mold remediation, (914) 699-5181 www.servprosmv.com , 24 hour emergency services
Santa Is In Town
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Santa arrived early to Scarsdale this year, conveyed in a fire truck rather than a sleigh. He visited Boniface Circle in the Village on the evening of December 3rd to spread some cheer and light the Scarsdale Christmas tree. He was greeted by scores of cheering children who came to talk with Santa to let him know what’s on their gift lists. Mayor Carolyn Stevens was also on hand to wish everyone a happy holiday season. Scarsdale Village and the Chamber of Commerce sponsored the tree lighting and Lange’s provided hot chocolate.
Santa also mentioned that it was the third night of Hanukah, and we believe there is a Menorah in town this year. Have you seen it? Go downtown and take a look – the Village is beautifully decorated and lit for the season.
Holiday Breakfast and Tree Lighting
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On Friday December 3rd at 5 pm, the Scarsdale Chamber of Commerce invites you to the annual tree lighting in Boniface Circle in Scarsdale Village. Lange's Deli will provide hot chocolage and donuts and everyone is welcome to attend. On Saturday December 9th, the Scarsdale Parks and Recreation Department and The Scarsdale Chamber of Commerce will Co-Sponsor the Second Annual Scarsdale Holiday Breakfast from 9:00-11:00 AM at Scarsdale High School. All pre-K through 3rd Grade students and their families are invited. Those who attend will receive special holiday giveaways and can have their picture taken with Santa who will be visiting Scarsdale from the North Pole! Cost is $5 per person. Register online at http://reconline.scarsdale.com or at the Recreation Department by the December 6th deadline. Special thanks to Lange’s Deli for providing breakfast. Happy Holidays!
Cornell In Scarsdale
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Scarsdale Forum Recommends Village Wide Tax Revaluation
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The Scarsdale Forum will discuss their recently released report on a town-wide tax revaluation at a meeting on Thursday night November 18 at the Scarsdale Library at 8 pm. Their Assessment Revaluation Committee as well as a panel of experts will be there to lead a discussion on revaluation.
The panel will include:
John Wolham, Director, Southern Region, NY Office of Real Property Tax Services
Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville
Steve Altieri, Town Administrator of Mamaroneck
Alfred A. Gatta, Village Manager of Scarsdale
Robert Berg, who served as Chair of the Assessment Revaluation Committee for the Forum will lead the discussion.
The Forum studied tax revaluation in response to a request by Mayor Carolyn Stevens in 2009. Their 22-page report offers background and history on property tax and covers New York State law and Scarsdale’s history of revaluation.
The last revaluation in Scarsdale was done 41 years ago in 1969, when Sal Horowitz Jr. was the Mayor, and there are now substantial inequities in the tax assessments of comparable properties. According to the report, since “property taxes within Scarsdale are a zero sum game,” owners of underassesed properties are being subsidized by their neighbors, who are paying more than their full share of the tax burden.
Since Scarsdale property tax are among the highest in the country, the committee favors rectifying these inequities through a revaluation.
In their report they recommend that:
- The Village should conduct a full-scale reassessment as soon as possible
- The Village should reassess periodically, with no more than four years between assessments
- The Village should issue an RFP to seek out an appraisal firm to conduct the reassessment within 60 days.
- The process should be as transparent as possible
- Residents who face hardship due to a tax increase should be encouraged to apply for STAR exemptions
- Scarsdale should lobby the state to enact a statute that will allow for deferred tax increases until a property is sold
- Scarsdale should not phase in tax increases or allow transition assessment as these prolong inequalities.
The report offers a very thorough recap of the history of property taxes and a review of what neighboring towns have done. Since New York State does not mandate revaluations, only three municipalities in Westchester have conducted revaluations recently. They are the Town of Rye, the Town of Pelham and the Village of Bronxville. Some of our neighbors’ assessments are even more antiquated than Scarsdale’s; for instance the last time the City of Mt. Vernon was revalued was 1853.
The report also reviews several current real estate listings to demonstrate how older homes may be under-assessed. For example, the large home on the duck pond in Heathcote that sits on 3.73 acres is now on the market for $5.35 million and it’s current assessed value is $42,900, translating to a tax bill of $52,014. Using the current market value of the property, the assessment should be $94,160 with an annual tax bill of $118,000.
Owners of another Heathcote estate listed for $11.5 million now pay a tax bill of $89,170 and if the house is valued at $11.5 million the tax bill for the property should be $250,000. In contrast, a new home built across the street has been assessed for $144,135 which would translate to a tax bill of $175,000.
These inequities also exist for the tax assessments of more modest homes though examples were not provided in the report.
The report covers the history of tax grievances in Scarsdale and sites the rising number of grievances filed in recent years. During the 1990’s the number of grievances ran between 75 and 100, but by 2010, 756 grievances were filed due to inequities and falling market values. The report estimates that all the property owners who grieve their taxes in total may pay several hundred thousands dollars for appraisal, attorney and filing fees. And the cost to the Village is high as well. In 2010, the Village spent approximately $155,000 defending 551 challenges to the 2009 tax roll and in 2010 the tab for the Village rose to $212,000.
Furthermore, 90 percent of tax grievances result in reduced assessments, with some of these reductions ranging from 20% to 35%. These reductions will cause others to pay even higher real estate taxes.
Given the costs to homeowners and the Village and the basic inequities in the system, the Forum recommends that the Village conduct the revaluation for many reasons:
- Equitable distribution
- Transparency
- Reduction of tax grievances
- Correction of inequities between Scarsdale properties and those in the Mamaroneck Strip.
- Maintenance of favorable bond ratings
- Elimination of reliance on the state equalization rate
- Eligibility for a small state subsidy if village adopts plans for cyclical reassessments
Learn more at the meeting of the Scarsdale Forum on Thursday November 18 at 8 pm in the Scott Room of the Scarsdale Public Library.
Thanks to committee members: Robert J. Berg, Chair, Robert Harrison Boine Johnson L. William Kay, III Kenneth Keats Edward A. Morgan and Douglas Ulene.
