Village Board Hears Feedback on Proposed Budget

Driving rain didn’t deter residents from attending the first meeting of the newly elected Scarsdale Village Board of Trustees on Tuesday April 12th. The session included public comment on the Village budget, the announcement of appointments to Boards and Councils and liaison assignments, an update on the Popham Road bridge and approval of a downtown art fair in May.

Mayor Fliisser commented on the process of Village government, noting that she has heard from residents that televised Village Board meetings seem formal and dry, She explained that Board meetings are a result of work done at committee meetings and by Village staff. She encouraged those who want to get involved to attend these committee meetings -- that are open to all. At these meetings residents can speak and let the Board know what they think.

Public comment to the Board on the proposed 2011-12 Village Budget was given by Sara Werder, President of the Board of Trustees of the Scarsdale Library, Bill Kaye from the Scarsdale Forum Fiscal Affairs Committee, Pam Rubin of the Scarsdale League of Women Voters and Dan Hochvert for the Scarsdale Forum Sustainability Committee.

Werder warned that by complying with the Village request to cut the library budget by $93,000, the Board was forced to cut back on service to Scarsdale residents. Both staff hours and the book-buying budget has been reduced and the Board elected to take $60,000 out of reserves to fund their annual budget.

Speaking for the Scarsdale Forum Fiscal Affairs Committee, Bill Kaye provided recommendations on reducing the Village Budget but did endorse passage of the budget as proposed.

Among their suggestions for cost reductions were:

• Require non-tax paying entities such as religious institutions to pay for refuse collection and requiring commercial facilities such as country clubs to pay more than residential properties for collection.
• To seek methods to deliver services more cost effectively for the long term.
• To reduce the Village staff headcount through attrition -- as 70% of the Village budget is comprised of salaries in benefits
• To renegotiate contracts with Village employees to reduce salaries and benefits and to require employee contribution to healthcare.
• To lobby N.Y.S. to reduce unfunded mandates and continue to work with municipal workers and NYCOM to reduce pension contributions.

The Scarsdale Forum also called for the Village wide tax revaluation to be done this year. Kaye noted that this report was submitted in memory of friend and colleague Boine Johnson who passed away earlier this year.

Pam Rubin spoke on behalf of the Scarsdale League of Women Voters and commended the Village staff, Trustees and former Mayor Carolyn Stevens for maintaining “quality of life” while containing the tax rate.

The League offered the following recommendations:

• Consider the reallocation of resources – such as crossing guards who are no longer needed for midday dismissal, as Kindergarten is now a full-day program
• Move forward with the Village–wide tax revaluation
• Explore outside revenue sources and cooperative agreements with neighboring municipalities to fund capital improvement projects on the storm water drainage system and sanitary sewer lines.
• Continue to fund road repair, as 25% of Scarsdale roads are now classified as “poor.”
• Replace Village trees lost to storms and disease
  
• Work with community groups to determine which services can be reduced, eliminated or paid for by alternative means.

Dan Hochvert the spoke as a co-chair of Scarsdale Forum’s Sustainability Committee. He commended the Village for reducing costs for recycling and noted that the County will now recycle plastics in categories #3-7. He urged the Village to publicize this change in policy.

He also spoke about the benefits of composting to further reduce waste disposal fees and suggested that a composter be set up at the Famer’s market and that residents compost their leaves rather than have them collected. The Village currently spends $705,414 on leaf collection – and this cost could be reduced if residents composted leaves.

Popham Road Bridge Project: Deputy Village Manager Steve Pappalardo announced that Phase II of the renovation of the Popham Road Bridge was scheduled to begin. This will involve work on the south side of the bridge. During this phase, one lane of traffic will be closed and the south lane of the bridge will become a sidewalk. Drivers will not be able to make a left turn off the bridge onto East Parkway and will now have to go to Chase Road to turn left. The bridge is tentatively scheduled to be completed at the end of May 2012.

Art Festival: Lewis Arlt spoke on behalf of Chamber of Commerce to encourage the Board to approve an application for the Westchester Festival of the Arts by Paragon for May 14-15, 2011.He explained that this would be the sophomore year of the event and the miscalculations made last year would be corrected. Last year the fair was held on Father’s Day and all Village streets were closed to vehicular traffic. In addition, artist’s booths blocked storefronts and prevented shoppers from entering.

This year these problems have been addressed. The fair will be held on May 14-15, a non-holiday weekend, it will be moved to the Merchant’s Lot and no booths will be placed in front of store windows. The Scarsdale Art Association will also hold their show in Chase Park that same weekend.

The Board subsequently voted to approve both Art Fairs for the weekend of May 14-15.

Mayor Flisser and the Board then announced Board and Committee appointments and assignments for the coming year. This lengthy roster can be viewed on the Village website here

Flisser also noted some upcoming meetings … among them a Land Use committee Meeting on Thursday night April 14 to discuss a proposed land sale at 2-4 Weaver Street. However, this meeting is expected to go into Executive Session, and in that case, it will be closed to the public.