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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 10 September 2020

Created: 10 September 2020

Last Updated: 10 September 2020

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Ron SchulhofThis letter was written by Ron Schulhof:
Justin Arest, Lena Crandall, and Randy Whitestone, the CNC-nominated candidates for Village Trustee, are my choice for the Village Board of Trustees. I have worked with Justin and Lena for many years and have gotten to know Randy since he was nominated. They are hard-working, dedicated, selfless community volunteers and proven leaders. Once again, we have a contested election, so it is important that residents know that the Row B candidates have time and again taken action to do what is best for our community.

Justin and Lena bring a breadth and depth of experience from their first terms as trustees on the Village Board. They work collaboratively with Village staff and other trustees, deliberate issues thoughtfully, and have brought positive change to our community. Randy has been a longstanding volunteer in our community and will bring his professional background in finance and communications to the Village Board.

Much of the work Justin, Lena and the entire Village Board have accomplished is very visible in our day to day lives. This includes the Dine the Dale initiative, ensuring the pool opened this summer in a safe way, working collaboratively with the School Board on projects such as Butler Field and split tax payments, and maintaining a high level of services throughout the Spring when the Village had to run at limited staffing capacity.

There is also a tremendous amount of hard work done by the Board week in and week out that benefits our community, but that may not get as much notice. Justin, Lena, and the Board do this type of work without fanfare or accolade. Just a few examples include the replacement of senior village staff as long-tenured staff members have retired, making structural staffing changes in order to save money and improve Village services, spending countless hours developing prudent budgets and planning for financial adjustments where needed. Justin and Lena have continually looked for ways to make our community even better, and time and again have done so.

As part of my experience as a Scarsdale volunteer, I have served on the Citizens Nominating Committee, which is the elected body in Scarsdale, made up of residents from each neighborhood, to nominate a slate of candidates. I am happy to see the CNC continue to nominate excellent candidates for Village trustee. I hope you will join me in voting to support Row B - Justin Arest, Lena Crandall, and Randy Whitestone - for trustee in the Village election on September 15.

Ron Schulhof
Springdale Road

Michelle Sterling

Please Vote Row B - Arest, Crandall and Whitestone

I strongly support the slate of Justin Arest, Lena Crandall and Randy Whitestone. As a local volunteer myself, I have seen Arest and Crandall in action over the past two years on the Board of Trustees, and even before as local volunteers active in numerous town volunteer positions. Randy Whitestone has also been an active town volunteer over his many years as a resident. Arest, Crandall and Whitestone are intelligent, thoughtful, caring and hard-working residents that continue to give their time and expertise to build on the strengths of this community.

I have had the pleasure of working with both of these trustees on several sustainability initiatives such as the implementation of Scarsdale’s Food Scrap Recycling Program, the LED streetlight conversion and our ongoing project of working to ensure that our Village properties are maintained organically and without toxic chemicals. Working with Trustees Crandall and Arest, I can say that they always listen, consider the facts, and involve our Village volunteers in order to get to the best results for our community.

This year’s election is contested. So it is important that our residents vote, and know who they are voting for and how they got there. Thankfully our town has a non-partisan system, which means that we nominate candidates not based on political affiliation or personal agendas, but based on who they are as people and how they will represent our entire community. Arest and Crandall have shown us great character and achievements during the last two years and I am confident that the entire Row B slate of candidates will continue to do so going forward.

Please Vote for Row B - Arest, Crandall, and Whitestone - on September 15 at the Scarsdale Congregational Church.

Michelle Sterling
Brayton Road

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Written by: Lee Fischman

Published: 29 August 2020

Created: 29 August 2020

Last Updated: 29 August 2020

Hits: 4766

This letter to the editor was written by Lee Fischman: You may have noticed that Berg, Selvaggio and Cohen election signs are now seemingly ubiquitous across Village properties. In 2018, Berg sued the Village for the right to place signs in the Village right of way. The judge issued a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order, stating,

"It is ORDERED that Defendants are enjoined from enforcing the provisions of Section 256-1... with respect to posting political lawn signs in the Village of Scarsdale right of way in front of private homes,"

Banning the Village from removing signs in front of private homes seemed reasonable, and the Village is not removing any signage until the suit is settled. But Berg, Selvaggio and Cohen are exploiting and exceeding the restraining order by placing vast numbers of signs not in front of supporters' homes, but on wholly owned Village property.

The taxpayer owns Village properties. That's us. Having political signage placed on Village properties' right of way is akin to appropriating our endorsement. I did not give Berg, Selvaggio and Cohen permission to advertise in front of taxpayer property and neither did the judge. In the midst of summer greenery they also are a public eyesore. In fact, the Supreme Court agreed with the right to prohibit signs regardless of purpose in Los Angeles v. Vincent: "The problem addressed by this ordinance -- the visual assault on the citizens of Los Angeles presented by an accumulation of signs posted on public property -- constitutes a significant substantive evil within the City's power to prohibit."

Berg, Selvaggio and Cohen's action, whether direct or by delegation, is a provocation, a gamble that there is no downside to exceeding the judge's injunction. If you too disapprove of this widespread appropriation of community property, and want to send a message that papering it with election signs should not be future practice, you can register your displeasure with your vote.

Lee Fischman

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 19 August 2020

Created: 19 August 2020

Last Updated: 19 August 2020

Hits: 2665

The Village could be forced to shelve plans for a flood mitigation project due to shortfalls in the budget from the COVID crisis.When the COVID crisis hit Scarsdale in March, no one knew what to worry about first. Little was understood about how the mysterious and possibly lethal virus could spread and residents were huddled in their homes, frightened and uncertain about what they could and could not do.

Our public officials quickly took action, and did what they could to send medical help to those in need and disseminate information about social distancing, testing and provide information on where to go for help.
They also realized that even though Village Hall was shuttered, they would need to work quickly to ensure that the Village had enough money in their coffers to fund public services and meet village obligations in a time of great uncertainty.

At a meeting held in the midst of the crisis on March 25, 2020 the trustees set aside $3.5 million into a COVID emergency fund to ensure that funds would be available to pay for essential services in the event of the loss of funds from revenue streams. Funds were drawn from both the 2019-20 budget and the 2020-21 budgets from a variety of sources identified by Village staff. The trustees also put an austerity plan in place to limit spending over the coming months.

The move appeared prescient when the Trustees reconvened on August 11 to consider how the COVID crisis had impacted Village finance. Village Treasurer Mary Lou McClure, who announced her retirement earlier this year, delayed her departure to shepherd the Village through this crisis. Mayor Samwick thanked both the Village Manager’s Office and the Village Treasurer for finding funds to create reserves to cover shortfalls.
At the working session on the budget McClure ran through an analysis of where Village finances currently stand and how the Village could manage the 2020-21 fiscal year. She presented Scenario 3 which included current numbers and projections for this fiscal year.

She explained the sources of the $3,485,000 that had been set aside to fill potential revenue gaps. Approximately $1.440 million came from savings to the 2019-20 budget achieved by restricting departmental savings, another $340,000 in adjustments to the 20-21 budget and another $1,705,000 from deferring capitol projects including:

-Hutchinson River Drainage Project $450,000
-Library Debt Service Mitigation $100,000
-Heathcote Road Bridge $1,000,000
-Girl Scout House Improvements $100,000
-Village Hall HVAC Repair. $55,000

Total $1,705,000

McClure explained that non -tax revenues had fallen during the crisis and ran through her assumptions on these reductions. She explained that since residents stopped commuting during the crisis, the Village extended annual parking permits for three months to compensate those who purchase permits last year. The Village took big losses on revenues from parking permits at Freightway, Christie Place and from valet parking. Parking meter fees dropped by 50% as the Village was closed and no one was shopping. The Village also experienced drops in mortgage tax, building permits and court fines as well as interest income. Due to the fact that the Village could not operate their summer camps, they experienced another net loss of $74,748.

Here are the estimated losses in Scenario #3

-Sales Tax - ($900,000)
-Parking Meter Fees – ($435,000)
-Parking Permits – Freightway ($543,125)
-Parking Permits Christie ($362,313)
-Valet Parking ($718,000)
-Mortgage Tax ($100,000)
-Building Permits ($100,000)
-Court Fines ($200,000)
-Interest Income ($390,000)

All told, after expenditure savings, revenues were $3,168,445 lower than projected.

With business reopening and a lively real estate market, McClure hopes that some of these losses can be made up in the second half of the year. However, she cautioned that weather events such as Tropical Storm Isaias could have further negative impacts on the budget as police and the Department of Public Works need to be paid overtime.

McClure explained that the total fund balance now stands at $15,733,000 which represents 14.11% of the Village budget. She was happy to have these undesignated reserves to pay for unexpected costs such as the storm damage the Village just experienced. About $8.35 mm of those funds are in the unassigned fund balance.

Commenting on the budget, Trustee Justin Arest said, “We have sufficient monies allocated and earmarked to cover the anticipated shortfall and a relatively healthy unassigned fund balance to protect us from future unknowns. As we move forward, we will have a better idea of longer lasting impacts. It is very possible that we will be left with a long lasting revenue shortfall caused by changing habits and reduced governmental aid. We must have conversations about our operating budget. Have we learned ways to make our processes more efficient? Is there technology we can implement or use better to allow us to eventually do more with less? And, if these are answered in the negative, then we must have difficult discussions about where we should consider creating budgetary reductions.”… given the current crisis and uncertainties that lie ahead, I believe it behooves staff to meet with the Board and the Community regularly to ensure everyone is on the same page in terms of priorities and discussing possible changes before we get too far ahead. This needs to be done starting in September and not in December. Let’s schedule more meetings. I know we are in a crisis but we are going to be in it for quite some time. We must be able to continue operating and exercising our role as a policy and oversight body.”

“…We cannot sacrifice important infrastructure and capital projects in the medium and long term as the solution to revenue shortfalls. We do have over 14% unassigned fund balance but is it prudent to start depleting that account without a plan to replenish it? And, should these monies only be used for the unexpected? These are of course just some of the questions that need to be discussed.”

“Six months ago I had been thinking about the need for a Scarsdale 2030 or 2040 plan. I think we may need this even more now. At the very least, a conversation is warranted about the Scarsdale we want to be- How we can lead and how we can ensure we remain a desirable place for people to move to and thereby help support our property values.”

Trustee Jane Veron agreed that “this budget meeting could not come soon enough.” She said, “I am a planner by nature”… and, “We get the best result when we share views.” Looking toward the future she said, “We all expect that 2020-21 will be a challenging budget year….COVID impacts will ripple through the economy. I was elected to take care of Scarsdale today while planning for Scarsdale in the future….We are facing both medical challenges and weather events are occurring….COVID has forced us to re think service delivery….There are efficiencies to exploit…. What can our department heads do to serve residents and cut costs? There needs to be room for immediate needs and future plans. We need to meet regularly to share and test new approaches….We have the balance of this year to be creative.”

Trustee Jonathan Lewis said, “We prepared for $3.4 million in reserves to cover this … Are some of these funds already in reserves? We haven’t discussed the proper level of reserves but perhaps we should. We have $15.7 in reserves as of May 1 – we anticipate drawing these down to fill the gap? I think what we need for the next meeting is how the designated and undesignated fund balances will be impacted by the numbers in this scenario. I think we need to go up tempo in our planning and we need to re-envision how we’re doing business to consider the long term impact of these trends.”

Mayor Samwick clarified, saying “There is $8.35mm in the unassigned fund balance. That’s what Moody’s uses for the rating, not the entire fund balance. Our buffer is the $8.35mm unassigned fund balance.”
Arest added, “There is clearly a reduction in our total fund balance. If we continue to have shortfalls in our operating budget, where will we make these up? And Veron said, “We don’t want to assume that deferring capitol projects is the best route. When we deferred road repairs, we saw the ramifications.”

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 10 August 2020

Created: 10 August 2020

Last Updated: 10 August 2020

Hits: 2825

This is a letter from Lee Road resident Lisa McIver to Village Planner Greg Cutler about the demolition of a house next door to her home:

Hello Greg: After waiting 6 months for the house (at 112 Lee Road) to be demolished they did it this Saturday - the day we left on vacation. Our neighbor luckily heard what was happening. The house was taken down with no water to hold the dust down AND worse the structure fell onto our property. It took down a row of 5-6 large arborvitae trees and broke the Belgium blocks lining our driveway.

Our houses are tight. This builder needs to be careful of our property. Today they piled the dumpster up and did not wet down the debris. Huge clouds of dust were over our property. We are away until Saturday so we haven’t seen it but I am so angry about the blatant disregard for our property and the unskilled workers.

Here is a photo of the dust coming from the demo … one worker and no water to hold down the dust. Our neighbor said our backyard looks awful with tons of dust covering our furniture, house and patio.

Who cleans this up? Will the town test it for asbestos? We come home Saturday and shouldn’t be returning to such a mess. Our house and windows will need to be power washed and cleaned. Trees will need to be replanted and the driveway repaired.

We will file a police report when we return. They need us to be home. Would you please check the scene tomorrow? The photos below show the workers on our property with the pieces of their demolition spilling over on our property.

Please help. Our neighborhood cannot handle such blatant disregard for our well-being and our property.

We look forward to quick action.

Thank you,

Lisa Lovisolo McIver
109 Lee Road