White Plains CitizeNetReporter - City Did Not Deliver Assessment Information Tuesday. Sales Up Slightly.

WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT. March 1, 2006: Terrance Schreurs, Assistant Superintendent for Business of the White Plains City School District told WPNCR that the city did not provide total tax roll assessment information or PILOT payment information to the School District yesterday as expected. He said the school district hoped for it today, Wednesday, when the roll is due by law. The city has given the School District no indication as to whether last year's total tax roll value of $304 Million has declined, stayed even or grown. The city Executive Officer felt "assessments might be even, slightly ahead, or a little bit behind." Paul Wood, City Executive Officer. Pictured at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast, January, 2005. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

Paul Wood, City Executive Officer, told WPCNR Tuesday he could not release assessment information, but did say he felt it was "close to even, maybe a little behind." He also reported that sales tax collection for the second quarter was running "about 2-3% ahead of last year," but that three days were unreported by the state due to the New York City transit strike. If the recently completely holiday season (with City Center fully occupied) ran 3% ahead of the 2004 holiday season, when the city collected $10,760,486, this would mean the city collected an additional 323,000 in October, November, December of '05 for an estimated total receipts for the holiday season of $11.1 Million. Add the $11.1 Million to the July-August-September first quarter receipts of 2005-2006 ($10,367,333), and to date the city has collected approximately $21.5 Million in sales tax the first half of the year. If the 2.5% -3% growth rate reported by Wood Tuesday, continues, WPCNR estimates the city should come in with a $43 Million Sales Tax total for the year. Should Wal-Mart eventually open in the fourth quarter this could help juice the final total for the year. The city budgeted $42.5 Million in sales tax in the 2005-2006 Budget. Wood said assessments were being affected "because we had a lot of certs (certioraris) this year." Wood blamed certioraris on over assessments from previous years, though certioraris settled this year were for tax years during the Delfino Administration. Wood, asked for city reaction to the State Comptroller Allan Hevesi's report pointing out that White Plains was one of 28 New York cities which had run at a deficit from 2000 to 2004. Wood said he thought Hevesi's report was "a good one." He said the White Plains spending differential between revenues and expenses from 2000 to 2004 was due, in part, to having to provide services for 250,000 persons during the day, and that the city's population had grown. He said White Plains was thriving and on an upward trend.


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