Bronxville Insider: Mayor's Column Week of March 27, 2023.

Mayor’s Column: March 27, 2023.

Per New York State procedure, the Village has filed a 2023-2024 tentative budget.

As currently proposed, the budget requires a tax rate of 3.589 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation resulting in a 2.39% increase in real property taxes for the next fiscal year.

In real dollars, the effect is thus:

• At the village median property assessment of $2,500,000 with a tax rate of 3.589, the tax increase in real dollars would be $210 for a home of that value making a total median Village tax bill $8972.50.

Chief components of the budget include:

• A total general fund appropriation of $19,486,740 representing an increase of $997,100 or 5.39% from the 2022-2023 adopted budget.
• Non-real property tax revenues of $6,781,740 representing an increase of $418,500 or 6.57% above last year.
• Use of $700,000 from the unappropriated fund balance.
• Use of tax stabilization funds of $125,000 from our tax stabilization reserve fund.
• A real estate tax levy increase of 4.67% (in excess of the allowable tax cap levy)
• A taxable value of $3,301,663,900, representing an increase of $72,891,325 from last year.
• A general fund contribution of $1,558, 588 to the library fund representing an increase of $71,729 or 4.8% above last year.
• The result is an unassigned fund balance as of May 31 projected to be 43% of operating, exclusive of use of $700,000 for the 2023-2024 fiscal year and another $375,000 assigned for tax stabilization to be applied over the next three years.

The budget accounts for above average expense growth in employee benefits, principally retirement contribution, healthcare premiums, and Worker’s Compensation premiums, which are offset in part by strong non-real property tax revenue growth from sales tax and building permits.

The budget also includes a reduction in use of unassigned fund balance by $75,000 while also requiring the use of tax stabilization monies to be applied equally over the next three years to offset debt service growth until the next bond is paid off in 2026.

Most importantly, this budget ensures that a healthy fund balance remains intact enabling the Village to borrow for future capital needs at the lowest possible interest rates while allowing for maximum flexibility for its use.

To that end, the budget includes an extensive list of capital projects, either currently underway or planned for prioritization.

They include:

• We continue our aggressive maintenance of our 125-year-old water delivery system. Starting on planned Phases 4 & 5, we will be cleaning, televising, repairing, replacing and re-lining sewers throughout the Village.
• On the stormwater front, we will also be adding more catch basins and expanding our water conveyance systems.
• To accomplish all of this, we have taken on debt of $2 million. But thanks to our excellent fund balance, we received an interest rate of 1.7%.
• Quite visible, we are upgrading the entire intersection at Midland Avenue and Pondfield Road. The supply chain finally came through with the regulation mastheads now required by the State of New York and we have, as part of a walkability initiative, widened the sidewalks around the intersection, created “bump outs” to slim down the size of the road, fixed the curbs and will be adding a pedestrian push button signalization system.
• The intersection at Gramatan Avenue and Pondfield Road will also have new traffic signals consistent with state requirements. The entire project will cost approximately $1.2 million.
• In an effort to maximize our precious open space ,we will be improving Dogwood Park (the parkland straddling both Kensington  and Sagamore Roads), with a new sprinkler system, topsoil, seeding, new trees, and curbing as well as improving drainage on the Sagamore Road side.
• At other end of Sagamore Road, we will be adding two new play structures in the park to replace some well-worn equipment at the cost of $150,000.
• We are also spending the same amount of money as part of a public /private partnership at Maltby Park to enhance that entire open space with play equipment, landscaping, benches, and picnic tables.
• Capital funds will be spent on bank stabilization at the two Bronx River water outfalls near Scout Field with a goal of mitigating area flooding.
• As for physical needs, the Village is purchasing a needed new garbage truck, a pickup truck for the DPW, one new police car and a sewer jet cleaner so we can clean our sewers going forward without hiring outside companies.
• On the security front, we will be upgrading our entire existing camera infrastructure as well as purchasing an additional license plate reader.

We anticipate our public works equipment to last much longer going forward now that we have a new closed garage to store this very specialized equipment.

This is just a preview of projects as we hope to add as many more as possible as money and time permits.

Any thoughts you have for capital improvements needed around the Village are so welcome.

Bronxville Insider: Mayor's Column March 6, 2023.

Mayor’s Column: March 6, 2023.

My column this week could be aptly titled:

What is going on in Albany?

Of course, the Governor Hochul’s “Housing Compact” and its implications for our Village is our number one priority, and we work daily with our Westchester colleagues to voice our opposition. As I have said many times, the concept of expanding affordable housing is beyond laudable but the execution in this plan is devastating for small communities throughout Westchester and Long Island in particular. Our legislators have been beyond supportive in uniting with us in opposition but my greatest concern is the unprecedented influence the New York City representatives have in Albany on our Governor, as they delivered a campaign victory and now loom large in influence. My prior column on the proposed Housing Compact can be found here.

Though by far the most consequential legislation in terms of consequence for the Village, there are other proposals in Albany that affect the Village.

As example, school aid across the state, increased by 10% to $34.5 billion but municipal aid increased zero for the fourteenth straight year in the budget and remains at a static $750 million. The same is true for transportation funding, the Pave Our Potholes Program and the Extreme Weather Recovery Fund. In essence, per the state budget the Village is on its own for repairs and maintenance even though overall the budget was increased by a whopping $7 billion.

In a positive development, in the area of criminal justice reform, the Governors’ Executive Budget proposes to give judges more discretion to set bail by removing the requirement that at the time of arraignment, they must apply the “least restrictive standard” for certain offenses.

The executive budget also increases a “violent crime initiative “by $110 million to $337 million to address gun violence and various adult and youth prevention plans throughout the state. Another $40 million would also added to hire hundreds of new prosecutors to support district attorneys in developing crime strategy and reducing case backlog. 
 
Again on a positive front for the Village in this Executive Budget as in so many in the past, the Governor has proposed changing the current 9% fixed interest rate on all municipal court judgments or accrued claims to a formula fixed to the market rate. If enacted, this would not only generate savings for local governments, but would also remove the incentive for plaintiffs to unnecessarily delay proceedings. The proposed change would simply conform the formula used by a vast majority of the rest of the states.

Similarly hopeful; is a proposed change to the Civil Service system to speed up the process of recruitment examinations as well as offering tests online with immediately scoring.

As background to understand the civil service law presently in action, if the Village needs a new police officer, we “canvas” the current list of test takers. By law, the top three scorers, whether they have the personal skills, interest in small-town policing or personality/character is irrelevant as they must be hired before we can “reach” the next 4 to 100 applicants.

Everyone must play a waiting game, either hoping someone hires them, or they take themselves off the list. That can extend from months to a year plus. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that the exam is given so infrequently  that a need  to hire a qualified police officer that meets the Bronxville requirements can literally take years.

In addition to legislation percolating in Albany, it is also important to take the temperature of our State and understand its health.

After attending a meeting with Comptroller DiNapoli, I learned we are at a 4.3% unemployment rate with 2 million or 87% of the jobs lost during Covid returned to the economy.

Sales tax revenues statewide are up 12% but this number is most reflective of inflation and a 20% increase in New York City tourism post pandemic.

 

Our New York State Employees’ Pension Fund is funded at 102.9%, the only state in the union funded above 100%. Last year it had a 9% rate of return with half of the pension money invested in the stock market.

Sadly, closing with bad news, we have $1.6 billion in new Medicaid costs and Governor Hochul just added some of that burden as a trickle down to the counties with Westchester getting an unexpected $40 million in new expenses, which will be reflected in our county taxes.

According to Moody’s, we are also the second most indebted state in the country, just trailing California.

I end with an unfortunately apropos quote by Mark Twain who said, “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”