THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR

 WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From County Board of Legislators. April 14, 2020:

Pursuant to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order 202.15, the Board of Legislators has established a special phone-in procedure for the public hearing scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 14, on a proposed relief measure for property taxpayers.

The public may participate in the hearing by phone.  Participants can register to speak by 3 p.m. by calling the Clerk of Board at 914-995-4604 or sending an email to [email protected].  Hearing participants will call 914-995-2800 after the public hearing is opened at 7:30 p.m. We expect public comments to be heard until 8 p.m.

The proposed measure would provide relief for Westchester property taxpayers this year because of the coronavirus epidemic.

The measure, whose details were suggested by a consortium of Town Supervisors, will give Towns the authority to reduce penalties for late payments of County and Town taxes and County district taxes, through July 15. 

It is designed to provide relief to property taxpayers while giving Towns a tool they can fairly and uniformly apply, without requiring an application by taxpayers or an administrative process of evaluating individual hardship claims.

Town and County property taxes and assessments are due April 30.

Under the proposed measure, penalties for late payments from May 1-May 31 would be reduced from two percent to one-half percent. For taxes paid from June 1 through July 15, penalties would be reduced from five percent to one percent.

Towns will have the ability to opt out of the program if they choose.

The County law would not apply to Westchester’s cities which have their own authority to set rates and do not need a change in County law to adjust penalties.

The public may also submit written comment after the hearing is opened. Responses to the public hearing may be emailed to[email protected] or sent by mail ATTN: Clerk of the Board of Legislators, 148 Martine Ave., 8th Floor, White Plains, NY 10601.  Written comments may be submitted up until by 5 p.m. Friday, April 17.

The hearing is on the matter of RES-2020-36: PH-Amending Westchester County Tax Law — A “LOCAL LAW amending Chapter 283 of the Laws of Westchester County relating to the Westchester County Tax Law.”     Local Law Intro 12598- 2020.

For details see the agenda of the April 14 meeting at:https://westchestercountyny.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=5701

All Board meetings are streamed live on our website, Westchesterlegislators.com.

###

GOVERNORS ON SAME PAGE: HEALTH RECOVERY PRIORITY BEFORE ECONOMIC RESTART

WPCNR RECOVERY REPORT. By John F. Bailey. April 13, 2020:

Seven Governors of the northeastern states hardest hit by coronavirus infections agreed this afternoon to work together with three state experts from each of their states to develop a cohesive  plan to reopen their states.

Late this afternoon, Governor Cumo’s office announced Massachusetts Governor Charles Baker had joined the group, commenting, “The Baker-Polito Administration looks forward to participating in discussions with neighboring states and experts regarding the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Massachusetts also remains focused on efforts to expand testing, ensure hospital capacity and provide the necessary PPE to those on the front lines to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our communities.

All agreed recovery would depend on the state of the health of their states the primary priority before they open businesses to resuscitate their state economies.

The first step will be for each Governor to appoint a three person task force of state Chief of Staff, Economic officer and state Health officer to develop an individual state plan within a week and then the plan requirements by state would be formulated into one plan taking into account the interaction of the five adjacent states.

Three governors already had their staffs selected: Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York.

Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York hosted the teleconference. Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Governor John Carney of Delaware, Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Tom Wolfe of Pennsylvania and Governor Gina Raimomdo of Rhode Island attended the news conference via telephone Each agreed that, since not all were at a point where their states were at plateau stage of the coronavirus spread, that public health was the primary factor.

The task force of 18 experts who will be formulating each individual state reopening plan sequence will compare plans and adjust them in discussion with the six governors, beginning within a week.

Governor Cuomo expressed that Pennsylvania’s Governor Wolf’s comment that the coordinated plan had another mission to restore the sense of hope that has been devastated the dreams and hopes of thousands as a secondary collective catastrophe of the coronavirus.