Sunday, February 18, 2007

COUNTY NEGOTIATING WITH ARDSLEY SCHOOLS TO PROVIDE REVENUE IN EVENT THAT COUNTY PURSUES ARDSLEY LOCATION FOR BD OF ELECTIONS SITE

An article in today's Journal News indicated that Westchester County is secretly negotiating with Ardsley officials to offset a tax hit of close to $200,000 annually that the school district will suffer if commercial property at 450 Saw Mill River Road is purchased for the new location of the Westchester County Board of Elections. I had previously expressed concern about the location and its impact on the school district. If the county acquires the property the property does not have to pay taxes. However, if the county works out an agreement with Ardsley to pay the school district each year - it would address one of the concerns. Another concern: access for the disabled.
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12 comments:

  1. Anonymous2/18/2007 1:12 PM

    rrrr

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  2. Anonymous2/18/2007 1:12 PM

    ffrr

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2/18/2007 1:18 PM

    Westchester County has property all over the County,including Greenburgh, such as the County Records building on Saw Mill River Rd. and Westchester Community College. Why is the Ardsley School District any different. These properties are a burden on the Elmsford and Valhalla school districts

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  4. Paul Feiner2/18/2007 7:08 PM

    I believe that previous administrations should have pushed the county for similar tax agreements at the time the county proposed to place their buildings within Greenburgh? This is good public policy - when the county purchases a building the local school district should not suffer.

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  5. Anonymous2/18/2007 7:34 PM

    The problem is that the County doesn't have a mechanism to even out these burdens. What County properties lie in the Scarsdale or Edgemnot school districts? I agree with John, that other school districts also face these challenges, so the bigger question is how should the County spread the costs out evenly around / across the County tax base?

    As for the Ardsley School District, this represents less than 1/2% of their annual appropriations. A little belt tighteneing ???

    (Yes, I am a resident of the Ardsley School District (the majority of which lies outside of the Village of Ardsley)and I have a child in the school system.)

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  6. Anonymous2/19/2007 10:13 AM

    The answer -- Paul Feiner lives in Ardsley

    Ardsley is so used to taking anything it can get.

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  7. Anonymous2/19/2007 11:04 AM

    Dear Anonymous 10:13 AM,

    The issue was raised by the Ardsley School District and not by either the Village of Ardsley nor the Town Supervisor. Let's be fair here.

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  8. Anonymous2/19/2007 12:30 PM

    Before one puts the blame on Paul Feiner ,do some investigating.Enough is enough.

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  9. Anonymous2/20/2007 9:56 AM

    And where do people think this $200,000 comes from? I'm a Greenburgh resident and therefore a county tax payer. Why should my taxes be raised to subsidy Ardsley's school district when the County building serves all residents, including those from Ardsley? Ironically, of course, Ardsley residents would similarly have their taxes raised by the county to subsidize the $200,000.

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  10. Anonymous2/20/2007 11:20 AM

    feiner is right. The Ardsley school district is right. If the county subsidizes the school district the cost will be assumed by almost a million people, not only by Ardsley school district residents. The impact to you will be insignificant.

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  11. Anonymous2/22/2007 11:44 PM

    Gee Hal, How come you havent said anything about this?

    Because you really dont like the idea of the county favoring Ardsley, but dont want to go agaisnt Feiner

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  12. Anonymous2/23/2007 6:02 PM

    Right on! Thanks for fighting for Ardsley and for our schools.

    ReplyDelete