Scarsdale 10583

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.

Comments (3)

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written by Confused, February 03, 2012

How can one interpret a 4.4% increase to mean that costs are under control? We can't sustain this runaway spending.

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written by Homo Economicus, February 03, 2012

I too applaud Al Gatta for taking the responsible approach and coming in with a proposed budget that complies with the tax cap. I second Bob Selvaggio's position that it is absolutely essential that the townwide revaluation begin in March 2012 as planned. The funding for this $1 million plus project should come from bonding as opposed to coming from the operating budget, and given the record low interest rates, the Village can bond this long overdue project at extraordinarily favorable rates. With both the Village and the County intending to comply with the tax cap, the School District's incessant whining about how outrageous the tax cap legislation is and how impossible it is to comply with the cap without eviscerating the educational system rings hollow. The School District just needs to suck it up and comply with the cap. I hope that Dr. McGill will see the light and present the Board with a proposed budget that does just that.

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written by Bob Selvaggio, February 02, 2012

Kudos to Village Manager Gatta for submitting a first-pass budget that comes in within Governor Cuomo's 2% property tax levy cap. He and County Executive Astorino are clearly working for Scarsdale residents to hold the line on the 35% of our tax bill for which they are responsible.

To be sure, it is important to understand that this tax increase that complies with the 2% cap is actually 4.435% (an increase that is 63% higher than the 2011 rate of inflation in our part of the country) and there is more work to be done. The budget is far from final and Village-wide property reassessment is absolutely required if real estate taxes are to be levied with any moral authority -- the well-documented tax inequities among homes of widely disparate market values need to be closed (e.g. $11mm properties that are taxed at only twice the level of $2mm properties), and Mayor Flisser recently assured the Village that reassessment is on track to begin in 2012.

Unbelievably, the last Village-wide reassessment and calibration to market value took place in 1968. Who can argue with any credibility that for a myriad of reasons (some purely innocent) inequities in valuation have not developed and widened over the 44 years that have elapsed since the Village has leveled the playing field?

In any event, Rob Astorino and Al Gatta are working for us to hold the line on taxes and this Scarsdale citizen fully appreciates their efforts.

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