Resident Fees Rising in Scarsdale

It's official! You will now pay every time you flush. At the Scarsdale Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday night March 12, the board passed a new law, called "sanitary sewer systems" that will allow the Village to charge residents a sewer rent fee. Revenues will be used to defray the costs of maintaining and improving the Village sewer system which dates back to the 1920's and is in need of repair. Village managers estimate that the average homeowner uses 200 units of water each year and will pay approximately $60 while commercial establishments use an estimated 1,200 units of water per year and will pay $390 per year. The Village expects to collect $400,000 per year from this new fee. Trustees passed the new law with little objection from residents or business owners.

However, members of the Scarsdale business community came to the meeting to protest another proposed increase in fees. In order to raise more funds, Village managers had proposed expanding metered parking downtown from 6 to 9 pm. Currently it is free to park on Village streets after 6 pm. Under this new scheme, those parking downtown would need to feed the meters during the evening hours as well.

This did not go over well with restaurant owners and retailers who protested that their businesses has already been hurt by construction on the Popham Road Bridge and the ongoing work on the Crane Road Bridge. Some estimated that business had fallen by 30% since the roadwork began. Rush Wilson, Don Zaccharia, George Stone and others came to the meeting along with Scarsdale Chamber of Commerce President Carolyn Stevens. They argued that free parking at night is a benefit to business. Former Mayor Stevens said, "With new restaurants trying to gain a foothold in the Village, increasing metered parking until nine o'clock is not business – friendly. Overall, it is not good for the health of the Village." According to Stevens, the $15,000 in additional revenue that would be gained with evening parking fees would have little impact on the Village budget.

Also passed at the Village Board meeting were a new schedule of 2013-14 Village wide fees and charges. Among the increased fees were:

• A filming fee of $500 per hour
• Increased fees for tree removal permits
• Application fees for zoning changes, variances, or a re-hearing by the Board of Appeals
• Parking fees – Freightway annual parking fee to go up from $890 to $950

See the schedule of all fees here.