WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. December 24, 2008: White Plains City School District is not alone in waking up to the reality of teacher contracts. Teachers across the state are being met with opposition from their school districts as they attempt to negotiate contracts.

 Almost one third of New York State School Districts, 222 of 698 districts were operating without contracts with their teachers as of September according to the New York State School Board Association. Of those 222, 47 had declared “Impasse,” the process that White Plains and its White Plains Teachers Association began last Thursday.

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White Plains with a beginning teacher’s salary  with a B.A. Degree at $50,000, an MA, $57,815 and 2% “step” increases automatic for each year of service following, with a top salary of $125,871 for a Ph.d. with 20 years of service, put a very low offer on the table for the teachers in June and has not made an offer since according to the teachers union.

Raises to the Managers Rankles

 The district did give a last round of raises to 42 administrators, directors, principals and Assistant Principals of an average 7.5% more than double the inflation rate of 2.7% in the current 08-09 budget, a total of $444,553 in salary increases, the average raise was $10,584. The “Favored 42” are being paid a total of $5.9 Million in salaries alone in the current year, meaning they received raises lifting their portion of the payroll 8%. Teachers received a 3.5% raise

 The raises ranged from 2.6%  to 15% for its highest salaried administrators, a policy that has aggravated the teachers union which is being asked for givebacks on health benefits and a lower salary increase. According to Kerry Broderick , teachers’ cost of health benefits have escalated 17% against a 3.5% increase in wages in the 2007-2008 contract.

 You can review those individual increases received by district administraters in the previous WPCNR article on that round of administration pay raises last May at http://www.whiteplainscnr.com/article6576.html 

  The teachers in contrast received a 3.5% increase for 2007-2008.

Holding the line on teachers salaries to a mere 2% would help the district immeasurably, because it would hold the teachers’ salaries below the 5% level.

Here’s why, last year when the district settled with the teachers a 3.5% raise across all levels, in addition to a 2% automatic step increase provided for a total of 7% across all teacher levels, this resulted in an increase in the budget of 4.39% in salaries overall.

If the county (at a 1.77% increase), the city (at a 3.9% increase and the school district continues at last year’s growth rate this year, about 5%  the median home in White Plains will pay over $15,000 in property taxes that is UP $2,400 from last year. Should the city assessments NOT hold steady at last year’s level and actually decline, this automatically creates an additional tax increase of who knows what. 

2009-2010 Property Tax Forecast

If budgets Grow at 08-09 Rates

County Tax 2009 (1.77% UP)  From $2,440 to $2,500

City 3.9% (Holding Line) From $2,834 to $3,000

Schools (7% Tax Increase) From $10,342 to $11,065

The total for a $700,000 Median Priced Home — $16,565.

Plus Sewer Tax $343

Total Property Tax/Sewer Tax — $17,000

But this conservative forecast could turn out to be low.

If city assessments are down, and considering the 10% lowering of home prices across the city they could be, then the school tax rate will have to go up to make up the difference in tax revenue. Two years ago when assessments in the city sunk to $289 Million, the district had to increase the tax rate approximately $33 on top of the $474/per thousand to this year’s $503 per $1,000 of assessed value.

And, there’s another ominous possibility: If sales tax is down, the city may have to rachet up its tax rate exacting a higher toll on the city property tax.

Then of course, there is the problem of state aid being cut to the district, but this may be mitigated by increasing Medicaid givebacks from the government and infrastructure payments and aid to replace lost Wall Street revenue. Maybe.

The School District has recognized they have a problem.

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From County Legislator Ken Jenkins. (EDITED)December 23, 2008: The county has applied for a state grant for a study on improving assessment practices—including revaluation.  The County Board wrote in support of the application which was also supported by key municipal organizations. A grant of $25,000 was awarded in July 2008 and the study group has begun its work.  David Jackson, Executive Director of the Westchester County Tax Commission, is facilitating the wide-ranging and exhaustive discussion on this complex issue with representatives from the Westchester Assessors Association and the Municipal Officials Association.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. December 23, 2008: . Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors reported to WPCNR Monday that the district was continuing to look at and monitor school spending, but would not commit to cuts in school spending the last six months of the current budget year, the second half beginning January 1.  Connors said the district would continue to monitor and look at the budget, but would not commit to wage freezes for management, wage cuts or expense cuts.

Outgoing Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors

Connors reported  to WPCNR the school negotiations team and  the White Plains Teachers Association last Thursday afternoon met  separately with the New York State Public Employers Relations Board-appointed mediator, Karen Kenny in the first of three mediation sessions intended to break the impasse in salary and benefits negotiations that finds the city teachers working without a contract. Connors said the second  meeting would take place in January, but did not have the date readily available.

Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors told WPCNR the next session would be held sometime in January, but could not remember if the date was before or after the first  Community Forum on the budget, January 15.

Wen asked if the district was going to attempt to cut spending the last six months of the current fiscal year (due to possible school aid cuts and a minimum 7% increase to maintain the district current rate of spending)  he said wage freezes or cuts  on administrative personnel were difficult due to existing contracts with managers and administrators, but left open the possibility of some spending reductions somewhere, without specifying where they might occur. He said the district would continue to watch the budget. He said school energy costs had gone up because of the colder weather.

Connors, describing the mediation talks last Thursday afternoon, said “We met, both sides with the mediator. She certainly will make clear what each side is asking, ask questions, and help bring the parties together. “

WPCNR asked if he anticipated a settlement before the 2009-2010 budget is formed , Connors said “I hope we’re successful.”

WPCNR asked if there was an anticipated amount figured for the 2009-2010 budget for salaries,  and Connors said it depended on settling the new contract with the teachers. Asked if he’d be freezing wages for management, principals, Assistant Superintendents and managers  in anticipation of revenue shortfalls from reduced assessments and state aid, Connors said “There are things we can’t do in a vacuum without talking and negotiating with the parties involved. They have contracts.”

WPCNR wanted to know if there would spending cuts in the third quarter of the present school budget, in light of promised cuts in state aid.  Connors would not commit to cutting the present spending, saying “We’re continuing to look at and manage our money well.”

Raises added to Longevity Increases?

Connors said the current step raises in the expired teachers contract continue to guide teachers’ pay in the current 2008-2009 year. Asked if any salary increases would be added on top of those step raises, Connors said that the new contract would guide that, without saying whether step levels (amounting to an automatic 2% salary increase for each year a teacher has been in service were under negotiation. Connors said salary and benefits were under discussion.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From City School District. December 22, 2008: The first Community Forum on the 2009-2010 School Budget, predicted by the television show White Plains Week to exceed $200 Million  has been scheduled for January 15 at White Plains High School at 7:30 P.M.

The new Community Forum format replaces the traditional discussion and evaluation of the budget by the Annual Budget Committee of some thirty persons, many of whom did not vary from year to year, who often commented on the passability and acceptability of budget decisions. This year, considering budget pressures, the Superintendent of Schools, Timothy P. Connors and the District Budget Committee decided to involve the entire community of White Plains in discussion of budget pressures.

Currently the School District and the White Plains Teachers now working without a contract, are in mediation talks of the amount of raise, supervised by the New York State Public Employers Relations Board, expected at this point to continue indefinitely. The present school budget is $284.4 Million, and if salaries and expenses continue at the same pace as last year, the budget would approach $197 Million, if  White Plains assessments stayed the same. 

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WPCNR SERGEANT JOE FRIDAY’S REPORT. December 22, 2008 UPDATED DECEMBER 23, 2008: The communications department of a major company has passed along this explanation of a proliferation of internet scams which have increased lately as the economy has slowed and conditions have worsened for Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. America. WPCNR passes along this advice

The following, published yesterday before The New York Times  admitted it, too, was victimized by an identify assumer who sent a bogus e-mail  critical of Caroline Kennedy, purportedly signed by the Mayor of Paris, which the Times apologized for yesterday. The following advice is particularly interesting and relevant:

“Phishing” and “email address spoofing” are the common twists on Internet fraud, and are bold and deceptive attempts to obtain your confidential and sensitive information, including credit card numbers, passwords, social security number and other important financial information. They often masquerade as legitimate businesses or organizations, such as eBay, PayPal or your local bank. 

Appearing in both emails and on fraudulent websites, these schemes are often very believable on the surface.   The hope is that a suspicious recipient will just look at the sender, see it says “admin@ebay.com” or “service@paypal.com,” and assume the message is legitimate. Spammers can alter the header of the email so that it appears the email message comes from someone else.   Please remember that what you see in the “From” field on an email has little bearing on where it was actually sent from.   

Here’s what’s going on:

In fact,  the scam may even look like an email comes from your own email address. When the spammers construct ‘From:’ addresses with your email address, there’s literally nothing you can do.  Why do spammers go through all these steps? Two reasons: first, they naturally want to hide where they’re sending from specifically so you can’t block them. Second, by setting the “From” address to be yours, if the mail cannot be delivered, you’ll still get it as the mail system attempts to return the mail to the sender identified by the “From:” address.

How did they get your email address? There are so many ways. One of the most common is  harvesting them from legitimate web pages or forums where you’ve provided your email address.

 What can you do about Spoofing?

Nothing.  If spoofers are constructing “From:” addresses with your email address there’s literally very little you can do. You wouldn’t want to block it because you’d be blocking yourself.

While (your company)  has put in place numerous procedures to catch these kinds of threats, incoming emails appearing to originate from (your company staff) may not be possible to be blocked.

 The best you can do for now is to use the delete key and simply delete the offending message(s).