League Examines the Proposed $56.5 mm Village Budget

Probably the easiest way to wrap your mind around the Village of Scarsdale’s $56.5 million annual budget, is to attend the annual meeting hosted by the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale with Village officials. This year the League invited the Village Manager, the Village Treasurer and the Mayor to meet with League members to review the annual budget and answer probing questions about how the Village is spending it’s money and why on Monday March 26.

The Village portion of your real estate tax bill is approximately 18% of your local tax payment, with the balance going to the county and the schools. If you wonder where your Village tax dollars are going attending this meeting gives you an easy to understand view of how tax dollars are spent.

First the facts about this year’s budget:

-The tentative 2018/19 budget of $56,574,413 is just 1.92% higher than last year’s budget. The $754,921 increase is due to a decline in non-property tax revenues from items like building permits, rec department fees, parking tickets and fees.

-The average village homeowner, whose home is assessed at $1,499,000, would pay roughly $6,773 in Village taxes in FY18/19 representing a year-to-year increase of $128 per household. Village taxes represent 18.19% of a Scarsdale homeowner's total property tax bill. The School District taxes comprise the majority of the tax bill at 62.85% with the County of Westchester accounting for 18.97%.

-The Village has a Aaa bond rating from Moody’s.

-Village Manager Steve Pappalardo explained that salary and benefits for Village employees represent 72% of the budget and this will not change in the near future. Most of the Village’s 237.5 employees are unionized and salaries and benefits are negotiated through collective bargaining. The budget includes over $8 million in healthcare costs, representing 17% of the budget.

Water Rates:

This year, Scarsdale residents are going to see an increase in their water rates to fund water infrastructure repairs and replacements. Including the rehabilitation of the Ardsley Road and Boniface water storage tanks, relining of 97 miles of water mains and water valve replacements.

The base rate is increasing from $2.85 to $3.20 per unit, while the excess rate is decreasing from 3.5 times the base rate to 3 times the base rate. One unit of water is approximately 749 gallons. Pappalardo explained that the average user in Scarsdale consumes 200 units of water a year. For the average user, 175 units will be billed at the base rate of $3.20/unit and the 25 units above the base will be billed at 3 times the base rate ($9.60). He estimates that the average homeowner will see an increase of $55 per year on their water bill. Read more here: 

The excess water rate is meant to serve as a deterrent to those who overwater their lawns or use excess water. The village recommends conservation measures such as smart irrigation system controls, rain gages to prevent automatic sprinkler systems from watering when it’s not necessary, planting native plants that require less water, mulch mowing and leak detection.

Roads:

This time of year brings many complaints about potholes. The village has 78 miles of roadways, and typically repaves 7-8 miles per year at a cost of $250,000 to $300,000 per mile.

How much will the Village spend on road repair? The 2018-19 calls for $850,000 for road repair with another $500,000 budget transfer at year-end if funds allow. That would be a total of $1,350,000 on roads.

In 2017-18 $1.575 mm was spent on road repair, but some of this was funded by Con Edison who is now required to repair and repave any roads they damage when they do gas and electric repairs. The Village requires Con Edison to repave these roads from curb to curb and Con Edison uses the Village’s contractors to do the work.

Thanks to Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and State Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins, New York State will spend $2.1 million repaving Scarsdale’s main arterial road, the White Plains Post Road from Eastchester to White Plains this summer when schools are closed. Westchester County will repave Weaver Street from Daisy Farms Road in New Rochelle to Cornell Street in Quaker Ridge, both in addition to the roads that will be repaved by Scarsdale Village.

A public hearing on the Village Budget will be held at Village Hall on Tuesday April 10 at 8 pm.

(Pictured at top: LWVS President Janice Starr, Village Trustee Deb Pekarek, Village Manager Steve Pappalardo, Village Treasurer, Mary Lou McClure and Mayor Dan Hochvert.)