Village Trustees Sworn In; Mayor Defends Proposed 2022-23 Village Budget

Jonathan Lewis, Karen Brew, Jane Veron, Jeremy Gans, Ken Mazer, Randy Whitestone.Two new Scarsdale Village trustees were sworn in at Village Hall on Monday April 4, along with current trustee Randall Whitestone who was elected to serve a second term. See pictures below of the ceremony for Jeremy Gans, Ken Mazer and Randy Whitestone.

This new board is expected to vote to adopt the 2022-23 Village Budget on April 26, 2022. The tentative operating budget is $62.6 million and would mean a 3.70% tax increase, translating to a $216 increase for the average homeowner. The increase is greater than last year as the trustees opted to reinvest in the Village’s aging infrastructure and address needs that have been deferred from year to year. The 3.7% increase falls below the NYS tax cap of 4.7%.

Last week a report from the Fiscal Affairs Committee of the Scarsdale Forum raised concerns about plans to repair the pool and to hire four full time employees and questions about the fund balance.

Here is a response from Mayor Jane Veron to those issues:

Pool RepairsJeremy and Lisa Gans

The Scarsdale Pool Complex has operated as an Enterprise Fund, meaning that operating costs should be offset by membership and event fees. There is currently no discussion to change the model. Right now, the focus is on reimagining the Pool Complex and understanding the community’s desires and willingness to pay. The facts are that the pool complex has outlived its useful life and is in dire need of replacement. Membership has been declining over the past decade, and we have struggled to be self-sustaining. We cannot ignore the reality. Something must be done.

At minimum, it will cost $13-15MM to restore the Pool Complex to its current form. While we do not expect to run the pool at a deficit this year, it is unrealistic to assume that the Fund could support such a major capital investment, certainly at the onset. We indicated in the budget the possibility that we could issue debt, allowing us to amortize the cost over the lifetime of the asset and enabling current and future residents to share in the cost of the benefit they receive. We will also explore grant opportunities and public private partnerships. However, it is still premature to make any decisions. The community will shape the outcome.

Please take part in the survey that will be administered by our consultant later this month, as well as other planned public engagement efforts to be announced. Your preferences will shape the Pool Complex’s future.

Melissa and Ken MazerAdditional Full Time Employees (FTE’s)

Staff and the Village Board are working collaboratively to maintain and enhance service delivery, including exploring opportunities for process streamlining and operational efficiency gains. Throughout this continuing effort, we have remained cognizant of the long-term implications, both positive and negative, of adding new FTEs. To illustrate our commitment in this regard, it should be noted that eight new FTEs were originally proposed, as staff was given direction at the outset of the budget process to present proposals each felt reflective of the resources required to achieve our organizational and community goals, including investments supportive of our mission: Providing Distinguished Service to a Discerning Community. As we publicly worked through the proposals and initiated our prioritization process, we collectively determined that four of the requested positions would not be funded, while the other four are important to add. Understanding the why of the four FTEs we added is critical as one evaluates the prudence of our decision.

Taking the positions one at a time, I’ll first address the Weinberg Nature Center FTE. As you may be aware, there was an outpouring of public support for transitioning naturalist, Sam Weinstock, to permanent full-time status. Sam has performed exceptionally in his part-time role and his efforts have led to the establishment of very popular new programs and associated revenue enhancements. We anticipate that Sam’s full-time role will continue to build community interest in the Weinberg Nature Center, perhaps also helping to cultivate financial support for needed facility improvements. It should also be noted that Mr. Weinstock’s popularity has been elevating his status in Westchester County, making him a prime candidate to be offered an opportunity to be recruited elsewhere. Finally, it should also be noted that the Weinberg Nature Center was once served by a full-time naturalist.

Jonathan Lewis, Lena Crandall, Karen Brew, Jane Veron, Jeremy Gans, Ken Mazer, Randy Whitestone and Justin Arest

With regard to the new Maintenance Mechanic – Pool FTE, one must note that there is a single individual – a foreman – presently on-staff with adequate skills and background to handle all pool-related maintenance needs. With only one individual, we are at risk for continuity of service when pool operation problems arise (which happens with regularity given the age of our pool complex), as a single foreman cannot be present every work day of the year, plus weekends. In addition, this one individual is also responsible for other duties as Parks Foreman.

Given the competing demands on this one individual, important foreman tasks have been neglected, including such tasks as field maintenance oversight, tennis court inspections, repairs, and maintenance, and oversight of contractual support. The Scarsdale community has noted deficiencies in each of these areas that the foremen is unable to properly oversee.

From a maintenance and operations perspective, the Scarsdale Pool Complex season runs from March or April to approximately November, so the peak time commitment is significant. Additionally, the Village used to enjoy contractual pool maintenance support for the entire season; however, when the contract was rebid in 2017, we were required to incorporate prevailing wage requirements applicable to the contractor’s laborers. Prevailing wage makes it very difficult for private pool maintenance firms to operate. They site difficulty tracking each task a laborer must perform within a single day and adjusting the hourly rate accordingly, as well as the impact of paying prevailing wage on their worker satisfaction and willingness to perform tasks at pools not paying prevailing wage (substantially less pay for workers on those jobs creates internal conflict and pressure to increase all worker wages). In fact, the firm we had contracted with for such services for approximately 40 years, declined to bid on the contract once the prevailing wage mandate was incorporated. After substantial effort, including outreach to approximately 13 vendors, we awarded a contract to a firm to provide the services, but the firm was unable to perform the work required and we had to terminate the agreement. In view of the foregoing and other supporting rationale, it is both necessary and prudent to add the Maintenance Mechanic – Pool as a new FTE, which will also be of great value to PRC operations during the brief off-season.

Please note that the Tree Trimmer FTE being added is effectively a temporary add. Because of an anticipated vacancy, including a long-term absence, the Tree Trimmer is being added to serve as a bridge solution to ensure operational continuity of services. Once the incumbent has officially separated, that position will not be re-filled, resulting in no net increase in staffing, as one will cancel the other out. As you may have noted, the request for an arborist was not supported in the budget process and was one of the proposed FTEs that did not make our prioritization cut.

Scarsdale is distinguished from other suburbs, in part, by its exceptional quality of life. In recent months and years, we have gradually increased the burden placed upon enforcement officials both by design and in response to increased activity requiring enforcement attention, such as the volume of construction activity we experience as one of the most desirable communities in Westchester County. Local laws, such as our tree protection law, gas-powered leaf blower ban, and others, also require diligent enforcement support, including during weekend hours. The volume of work clearly supports the need for a new FTE, as the work cannot be properly handled by a single part-time employee, and it is not prudent to take building department personnel away from higher-level responsibilities, such as plan reviews and permit inspections, or police personnel away from their critical public safety missions, to perform the duties of a code enforcement officer. Of course, all authorized personnel, including police and building department personnel, will continue to perform code enforcement response duties, but our new FTE will support the need for proactive enforcement that our community expects and has consistently requested.

Fund Balance

There were many discussions between staff and the board about appropriate levels of fund balance- particularly the impact of one time sources of revenue to offset recurring expenses. The net unassigned fund balance (reduced by the $430,000 assigned for future debt service) used in the tentative budget is $2.17mm. This is more than double of what had been historically allocated in approved budgets prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. The assignment of the $430,000 to offset the subsequent budget’s debt service is smart fiscal planning for the future. It recognizes the implications of decisions made in the current budget and looks to prevent undesirable spikes in the tax levy. The monies allocated come from existing fund balance and are not a result of an increase in taxes. Without additional discussions by the board about a willingness to increase the use of fund balance to offset operational items, removing this $430,000 assignment would only serve to increase our unassigned fund balance in the short term and not have an impact on the tax levy increase nor the residents’ tax rate.

Comment from Anne Hitnermeister from the Scarsdale Forum Fiscal Affairs Committee: "Regarding the claim that “removing this $430,000 assignment would only serve to increase our unassigned fund balance in the short term and not have an impact on the tax levy increase nor the residents’ tax rate,” the unassigned fund balance already exceeds the new 20% upper limit. Given that limit, removing the assignment of $430,000 should narrow the tentative budget gap by that amount, reducing the needed levy increase by around 1%."