The County Board of Legislators voted to spend $13 million to acquire a building on Saw Mill River Road, Ardsley. This is a bad deal for Greenburgh. The property comes off the tax rolls. The county overpaid for the purchase. The space is not needed. There were less expensive alternatives.
Legislator Tom Abinanti of Greenburgh voted against the acquisition. THANK YOU.
Legislator Lois Bronz, also of Greenburgh voted for the purchase.
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34 comments:
bronz is another career politico without a clue
lets start downsizing county government by getting rid of bronz
The problem is Feiner has no allies anywhere. Think about that next time he runs. He has alienated too many people.
The county has property all over. And it is not on the tax rolls. That is life. Feiner, just pay attention to problems in greenburgh. We have enough.
Not too long ago, Feiner boasted that he had paid $8 million to acquire a $25 million building at 177 Hillside Avenue. That building became the new Town Hall and like all government buildings, it was taken off the tax rolls. The big loser was the Greenburgh Central School District, which lost a valuable ratable. All Feiner did was talk about what a bargain the town got. The school district got screwed.
Also not too long ago, Feiner boasted about acquiring Taxter Ridge. That transaction took 200 acres of undeveloped land off the tax rolls because the property became government owed. At the time, a company had proposed to build a golf course and 40 luxury homes on the site. Imagine how the town's ratable base would have been enhanced if that had occurred. But Feiner stood in the way and the town got screwed.
But that's not all. As part of the Taxter Ridge purchase, Feiner also agreed to take an additional several hundred acres off the tax rolls as part of a secret tax deal he agreed to with the Moonies. The Moonies still own the land but can claim it's subject to a religious exemption. The land does not, of course, legally qualify for the exemption, but that's the way things work in Greenburgh.
The taxpayers be damned.
I viewed the work session of this past Tuesday,wher a reverend and some lady were requesting that a two family home be made into a three.
She was taking in money for this illegal third apartment for thirty years and now she was to make it legal since she was caught .
Well listen she benefitted in two ways : the amount of taxes she paid on the property plus the fact that she never declared the third apartment as income.
Now she states that she cannot afford to pay her bills since the tenant had to leave,well that's too bad.
We are all having problems to make do with what we have.
If this is permitted you will have many more homes asking for the same change.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Why do you have a building department if they cannot enforce the laws that are on the books.
Sorry but this town has become a free for all.
You don't have to go to the fire dept. to ask what they think as far as safety.
If it were a legal apartment yes but an illegal one no.
She has what she has so she has to make the best of it.
She's crying hardship well we too are experiencing hardship but we don't go crying to town hall and to boot bring a reverend in to help with the case.
If this is granted I will show up with a cardinal or maybe the pope to have my home converted into a three family dwelling.
Yes Feiner and the board did make very bad decisions with Taxter Ridge,the old town hall but Feiner wanted this parcel sold but the board voted him out.
Hartsbrook Park will also prove to be a mistake.
Bothe parcels could have brought in so much revenue that we wold have enjoyed living here with somewhat low taxes.BUT now we have double digets in taxes this year plus for the next few years.
One mistake after another.
Taxter ridge could have been developed as a golf course with condos but Dear Old Gold was not too happy.
Hartsbrook Park could have also been developed and boy what revenue that would generate. But no .
Feiner and the board have been listening to a few of the residents but they never realize that they do not speak for all the residents.
Hartsbrook pk.has become a place where dogs run loose ,people that walk their dogs don't clean up after them,bike riders going on private property no security what so ever.
They should have an outside phone to call out in case of an emergency.
If this is supposed to be a park it should have sign of do's and don't plus it should have safety rules.
Yes Paul one blundder after another in acquiring all these parklands.
Taxter ridge put up windmills to help the residents with the high electric bills.Do something special for the residents once in a while.
Hartsbrook pk. try to sell some part for development.
Parkland does not bring in the revenue needed to help all the home owners with their taxes. Some relief is needed before we start loosing our homes.
We have too much parkland.
It's back to Abbott & Costello time again.
"Niagara Falls...
"Did you say Niagara Falls...
"Taxter Ridge, Town Hall...
What part of the County's purchase of the Saw Mill River Road building reminds bloggers about the purchase of the Town Hall or the purchase of Taxter Ridge?
Apparently, this most recent mistake gets no comment but there are plenty of takers to dredge up the past.
In fact, as much as I think the call to get rid of County government is a dead end, the fact that the County makes the same mistakes, or worse mistakes, than the Greenburgh five, argues more eloquently against the County than anything Feiner would himself post.
Those who call for professional management should instead ask themselves what is wrong with the County government?
And for all those who cried that Feiner solicited improper campaign contributions, what makes the air on the higher floors of the County Office Building so much purer?
There, apparently, it is ok for the gander to get goosed.
When I started "just three votes" I had no idea that I should have also included the County on the list of enablers. Because bloggers seem to forget that without willing partners, no purchase of Taxter would have occurred.
And, if Feiner wanted to make the Taxter Ridge publicity go away, all he would have to do is spread the cost over the entire Town. Then, you wouldn't still be seeing Taxter Ridge wend its way to every topic.
Nor would it be an issue if a similar parcel had been located in Edgemont.
Finally, what becomes a legend the most? Tell Lois Bronz who is "so over" but doesn't yet recognize her failings. "Affordable housing" is not her middle name and to support WESTHAB over Greenburgh's Zoning code shows that she is no friend of Greenburgh -- proven again by her supporting the bail-out of the local developer/campaign contributor.
It's like living in a parallel universe where Candide witnesses everyone tilling everyone else's garden and all's for the worse in this worst of all possible worlds.
Which of the anonymous posters is gladened by this newest County purchase? Apparently only the purchases made by "Feiner" reduce ratables.
Gee willikers, thank goodness Samis is there to defend Feiner from all these vicious (but entirely truthful) attacks on his credibility as a government do-gooder.
Give it a break, Hal. The only reason Feiner opposed the Saw Mill River Road purchase by the county is to divert attention from Feiner's 21% tax increase this year in unincorporated Greenburgh and to find someone else to blame for it - in this case, Westchester County.
Because Feiner persists in playing these no-win spin games, it's important to remind residents that Feiner himself is to blame for the 21% tax hike and for so much of the loss in town ratables in the unincorporated areas of the town.
Sorry 5;38 Feiner is not to blame for the increase in this years taxes. The blame belongs to the previous board. Feiner was against the expansion of the library but the four board members voted against Feiner and the library issue was passed .
What we should be looking at is this big contributor to the Spano Campaign. This sale sounds like it was a special favor extended to one of Spano's friends.
As for Bronz she is no friend of Greenburgh .She should be a friend to all and resign so someone else more capable can take her place.
Feiner is absolutely to blame for this year's 21% take hike.
Feiner tried to blame the prior town board but, as the town's chief fiscal officer, it was his responsibility to know what was coming down the pike, but he either ignored the warning signs or deliberately kept us in the dark in an election year.
Feiner's excuse was that the prior town board spent the town's accumulated fund balance until there was no more left to spend. The fact is that Feiner himself over the past six years spent millions of dollars in fund balance money to offset tax increases and thereby conceal the true cost of Greenburgh's waste and excess.
Why is this Feiner's fault and not the fault of the prior town board. Because the budget each year is proposed by Feiner and the town board went along each year with his proposals, with very little change.
And don't believe for a minute that the 21% hike is the fault of the library expansion. Mike Kolesar made clear to us that the libary expansion accounted for no more than 2.8% of the 21% hike this year.
It's high time voters in Greenburgh said enough with the gimmicks and the finger-pointing. The buck has to stop somewhere and in a system where the only full time elected official we have is the town supervisor, the buck has to stop with him.
The sad part is, though, there's no one out there representing the interests of unincorporated Greenburgh. So expect more of same from Feiner & Co.
we should take mrs bronzes name off of the day care center.
Tonights board meeting was very interesting.
A young lady summed up what regula is all about but Sheehan said she was wrong.
How about getting some of his employees to swear under oath as to what type of a person he is.
I think the board and the public would be surprised about how he managed his department.
Was he honest or dishonest.
Leave the answers to those who have to answer to him.
I do not think that anyone of his workers has a good word discribing
his past and present dealing.
If I were him I would resign asap.
Payback is very sweet.
sheehan must go.
he should be consigned to 3 minute land in 2009.
hey unincorporated greenburgh - where are your candidates?
stop whining and start running.
you are getting the government you deserve.
btw - what has juettner done for you lately if ever?
she voted to appeal taxter. she failed you on the library.
she supports loading the library with video games.
time to get smart - stop voting for juettner.
Get rid of Lois Bronz, Richaed Brodsky and above all Do Nothing Andrea Cousins. We need new Blood.
We need Nick Spano back. At least he brought millions of dollars back to our district.
Greenburgh really messed up when we did not support him. Sen.Cousins is a big fat ZERO for our town. Mt.Pleasant and Yonkers supported Nick but Greenburgh did not. We only have ourselves to blame. Now that Sen Bruno is retiring, Nick would have been #2 in Albany . That would have been a big plus for Greenburgh.
To those who scream 21% tax hike, does taking a property off the Greenburgh tax rolls look to them like the way to reduce the substantial coming 2009 tax bite?
Had residents more than three minutes last night I would have proposed a moment of silence for the passing of the reign of Lois Bronz.
To those who watched the meeting last night, does it strike anyone but me as odd that Gerry Byrne was called to tell the public about the inventory of public toilets at town parks and even how often they are cleaned WHILE Al Regula was not asked about the bogus change
orders for $10,000 and $49,000.
It would have been a logical transition; first the toilets followed by sound of taxpayer dollars being flushed down them.
A priceless mastercard moment in so far as the $19.9 million borrowed does not include the debt service.
Taking a rundown vacant commercial property off the tax rolls -- a property that has been on the market for years -- will have little or no effect on the 21% tax hike this year, or the big tax hike projected for next year.
The property's $200K annual tax payment to the Ardsley school district is bogus too. A tax cert proceeding has been filed which will almost certainly lead to a substantial writedown of the property's assessed value going back several years.
Of more immediate concern to anyone with an interest in preserving the tax is why Feiner is so determined to give away for free the Waterwheel property -- a prime two-acre property in a residential area that is reportedly worth millions of dollars.
Using this property for 15 units of "affordable housing" will generate little or no taxes and you can be sure, if you're a resident of the Ardsley School District, that this housing will result in at least 20 kids that will have to be educated at the expense of all other taxpayers in the district.
Won't it be interesting to follow this cert proceeding?
The developer will be arguing that a property which sold for $13 million, vacant and rundown, in a downward real estate market, was worth what? during the cert period filed. What part of the $200,000 annual tax payment would you throw out if it were your court?
What is "bogus" is your anonymous assertion.
However I do agree with Bernstein, often celebrating himself here as anonymous, that the property should not be given away but does that mean if the fair market price were obtained that you will also be still be objecting to its use?
What if it were developed as market rate condominiums?
Then you would be arguing that condominiums don't pay there fair share of tax dollars.
So what would really make you happy
Mr. Jones?
Oh Mr. Samis, Mr. Samis, you didn't mean to say the property was being sold for $13 million did you?
Because if you did, you'd be exaggerating the price and stretching your crediblity which is already pretty thin.
The property at 450 Saw Mill River Road is being purchased for $6.5 million; the county is spending another $7 million to renovate it. How much of a writedown will the owner be entitled to? Look at the comparables, Mr. Samis, and you may find that an empty dilapidated warehouse isn't worth all that much as a ratable.
its now worth nothing thanks to bronz.
andy spano supported suzanne berger.
i guess this is how he pays back the town she sought to govern.
the voters suspected she was a lightweight. now they know it.
"its now worth nothing thanks to bronz"
It was an 12-4 vote. Three-fourths of the board, not just Bronz, saw that there were no other options to meet the federal and state mandates. And one-fourth of the board could not come up with any realistic alternatives. So let it go, and let's move on.
3:51 -- If this is to be viewed as political, it is that Feiner has no allies. Kinda like when Spano (the State Senator)'s projects lost funding when Cousins was elected. Have to wonder, if Berger had been elected, would she had been able to appeal better to County.
One reason there is no effective public participation in town government is that everything, no matter what, is blamed on Feiner. So Spano gets off the hook.
Just remember when election time comes arround, how our money is being spent.
Bronz is no longer bronze she has become to rusty as far as town government goes.
It's too late to polish her up so she should be put aside or thrown out.
Get rid of Lois Bronz, Richaed Brodsky and above all Do Nothing Andrea Cousins. We need new Blood.
We need Nick Spano back. At least he brought millions of dollars back to our district.
Greenburgh really messed up when we did not support him. Sen.Cousins is a big fat ZERO for our town. Mt.Pleasant and Yonkers supported Nick but Greenburgh did not. We only have ourselves to blame. Now that Sen Bruno is retiring, Nick would have been #2 in Albany . That would have been a big plus for Greenburgh.
What could have been doesn't matter at this moment. We can't make a change until election rolls arround.
We all know politicians are crooked.
Each one speaks with a forked tongue.
Have you ever seen one that really worked for the people instead of what he or she can get from the people.
Check the newspaper and see what happens to someone that has been in office too long.
He or she does't know right from wrong anymore.
I do hope we will have people who will be running that are really for the good of the people but I won't hold my breath
Are there any honest and good people out there that would like to represent Westchester..
Bronz is over the hill. She made no sense before so how do we expect her to change after all these years.
Abbinanti is always blowing hot air and really not making any sense.
Brodsky is in a world of his own. Push and maybe I'll move.
Cousins is there to show off some of the latest kerchief fashions.
The rest of the legisture has been the papers for money problems at one time or another.
Spano has been keeping the seat warm trying to figure out many ways to spend taxpayers money.aso this is what we have to look and listen to until the next election comes arround.
Patience is a virtue.
3:33 -- I assume you are a Feiner supporter. If virtually every Democrat again is not a friend of Feiner, maybe, just maybe, the problem is with Paul.
"Abbinanti is always blowing hot air and really not making any sense." Exactly like Feiner, which is a reason that the purchase was approved 12-4.
The purchase was approved so that the democratic party will not suffer when it came election time.
Above all this guy Halpern is a good friend of Spano,who was in financial troubles.
Neither hot air or a miracle would have prevented this purchase.
It was a done deal from the onset.
Remember most of political deals are completed behind closed doors.
Giving the story to the press was a way of throwing off the public.
Halpern and Spano shook hands way before the public had knowledge of what will be taking place.
THAT'S POLITICS FOR YOU.
Check Sunday Journal NEws and see how Spano and his associates have been taking us over the barrel.
Let's get something going to start lowering our taxes county wide.
So this is where our money has been going.
Wake up Westchesterites your being sent to the cleaners so county government can live the the life of Riley.
How many cruises did we pay for also?
What about all the vacations?
Check it out man.
Did county taxes go up 23%?
2:48 county taxes are paid by all the residents in Westchester we pay our portion which is included in the property tax.
The 22% tax hike was only for Greenburgh not the whole county.
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