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.
In response to residents’ complaints about a highly restrictive code for the installation of home generators in Scarsdale, the Scarsdale Trustees Law Committee met on the evening of January 18, 2012 to review the code and get input on revising it.
Edgemont Residents were surprised by a January 12, 2012 email they received from Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner concerning Dromore Road. Feiner’s email said, “In a court decision dated January 10, 2012, Judge Gerald Loehr has reversed the Town Zoning Board of Appeal’s determination that the 2.26 acre property at One Dromore Road in Edgemont is in the Town’s R-20 Single Family Residential District and has concluded that the property is in the CA-1 Multi-Family District and can be improved with multi-family dwellings. In addition, the decision may have implications for the Greenburgh Nature Center and Edgemont community. The Board will discuss a possible appeal.”
that they could build multi-family units on the site. In preparation, they had already demolished the existing home on the property in December 2006. S & R understandably was shocked at this new information and the change in zoning had a tremendous impact on the value of the property. In September, 2005 S & R had the property appraised at a value of $10,200,000. The same size parcel of land in a single-family zone would be worth substantially less. In March 2011, S & R won a Tax Certiorari Settlement reducing the assessed value of the parcel from $37,050 to $13,000 in 2010 (the revised assessment for 2008 and 2009 was $18,525) and S & R received a $61,000 tax refund.
There was a strong turnout for the Scarsdale School Board Nominating Committee election, held on Tuesday, January 17th. A total of 528 votes were cast, up from 381 votes in 2011. Fox Meadow had the highest number of voters, with 138 ballots cast. Greenacres had the fewest ballots cast with 76 voters. Heathcote had 108 voters, Quaker Ridge had 105 and Edgewood had 101 ballots cast.
Veteran State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer has announced that she will not run for re-election for the New York State Senate seat she has held for 28 years. Oppenheimer, 77 years old, disclosed that she was facing major shoulder replacement surgery in 2012 which would preclude giving her undivided attention to her senate duties and a likely brutal re-run against her 2010 opponent, Bob Cohen. 
