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

WPCNR QUILL AND EYESHADE. From the New York State Department of Finance,  reporting by John F. Bailey. November 3, 2017:

On the eve of County Executive Robert Astorino’s schedule to submit his 2018 budget, 4 days before the County Executive election,  the county coffers are brimming with a solid nine month gain in County Sales Tax Dollars of 3.4%, creating a  very handy windfall of $12.8 Million through nine months.

The county is throwing up record numbers.

The County has made $389,545,503 in sales tax coin, $12,788,989 more moola than the county had in 2016 after three quarters ($373,756,520 in 2016).

Mr. Astorino does not need the airport deal as a deficit closer.

This means Mr.Astorino  could withdraw the airport deal entirely. He devised the airport lease to make up the deficit caused by over optimism in 2015 in predicting a 14% increase in sales taxes for the 2016 budget (a wild guess that was approved by the Board of Legislators).

He does not need it.

He almost has it in hand this month.If he says he does, he should pay attention to these figures. How can he justify a 40 year deal for a one year deficit that’s being erased? Funny the County legislators aren’t questioning him on it.

The Astorino Airport Lease Deal  devised this year would deliver $15 Million up front whenever it is agreed to, (or any deal the Board of Legislators chooses to support)  to cover that $15 million dollar “overoptimism,” followed by payments for 40 years.  The $15 million “budget gap” is rapidly being closed by the robust sales tax receipts across the county,  gaining monetary momentum the last three months.

Let’s pay attention what this means:

If the county now sitting on  $389,545,503 in sales taxes receives the tax receipts it received last year in October($40,724,262) November ($40,041,594) and December ($51,355,703) to close out 2017, it will finish the year with $15,788,963 more in sales taxes ($521,667,062) compared to the 2016 figure of $505,878,099.

Isn’t that nice?

That’s a 3.1% increase in sales tax receipts.

If the receipts go up 3.4% the rest of the way for the county, an additional $4.5 Million may roll in, creating a $20.3 MILLION sales tax increase, more than enough to wipe out the wildly optimistic increase predicted for 2016 that was just unfounded. How sweet it is.

There is no joy two blocks away from the Michaelian Building at White Plains City Hall. The county rise in retail/restaurant spending is not being spent in White Plains, New York, USA.

September  Sales Tax receipts in White Plains declined $1.2 Million to $3,706,161 from the robust $4,904,462 Million in August.

Unfortunately the news on sales tax revenues in White Plains are not keeping pace with its wild $4.7 Million August greeted by this reporter with hallalulias. Turns out it was fool’s gold.

They should be shaking their heads in the bunker at 355 Main Street wondering where the money went all of a sudden.

Sales tax dollars coming into White Plains as of September 19, dropped after the first three months of the city fiscal year to $12,297,250, a 3.9% decline.  Perhaps October, November and December will rev up the sales tax dollars. Let us hope so.

The mystery continues as to the lackluster performance of White Plains business.

Those millennia renters cannot come soon enough to White Plains..

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. November 2, 2017:

In the aftermath of the deadly domestic terrorist attack in lower Manhattan, Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino today outlined a series of anti-terrorism initiatives in place to ensure the public’s safety and said that police patrols have been increased at parkways, parks and other popular gathering places.

Joined by George N. Longworth, commissioner of Westchester County’s Department of Public Safety, and members of law enforcement, the County Executive discussed Westchester’s preparedness, which includes measures already in place to safeguard against any potential copycat crimes, lone-wolf attacks or terrorist activities that could potentially prey on innocent civilians.

“We are always assessing real-world threats, and working closely with our partners on the federal, state and local levels,” Astorino said. “In these times we live in, we must always be vigilant. The public can be rest-assured that we are as prepared as we can be for an attack like the horrific and cowardly one that occurred yesterday. Our intelligence gathering, counter-terrorism efforts and stepped-up patrols are in place to protect residents, businesses and critical infrastructure in Westchester from potential terrorist activity.”

Astorino also offered condolences to the victims of the attack and their families.

“The people of Westchester share the sorrow and anger being felt by those most impacted by this awful event,” Astorino said. “We have also offered our assistance to New York City and stand ready to help in any way that we can.”

Both Astorino and Longworth noted that county police detectives are assigned to the F.B.I.’s Joint Terrorism Task Force – made up of federal, state and local law enforcement to ensure proper coordination – and were on scene in lower Manhattan immediately following yesterday’s attack, gathering information in real-time to assess any further threats from the incident, including the potential in Westchester.

Members of the Westchester County Police are also regularly engaged in a wide variety of counter-terrorism efforts every day, Astorino said. Among safeguards in place and actions taken include:

• Increased police patrols along county parkways, parks and other popular gathering places.
• All patrol officers carry radiation detection pagers that enable law enforcement to identify and interdict a dirty bomb if it passed through Westchester.
• The county’s Aviation Unit helicopter and Marine Unit patrol boats regularly conduct patrols around critical infrastructure locations, including the Tappan Zee Bridge and Indian Point power plant, to name just a few.
• The members of the county Bomb Squad have the sophisticated training needed to respond to any incident involving a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. The squad is capable of dealing with incidents involving chemical, biological or radiological devices.
• County police have a canine unit with dogs that specialize in identifying bombs and electronic devices used in cyber-crime.
• The county police are part of the Westchester Intelligence Center, located in White Plains, which includes investigators from Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, Department of Public Safety and multiple local law enforcement agencies, along with civilian crime analysts.