White Plains DPW Crew Works as of 10 A.M. to remove a fallen tree knocked over into the Ridgeway roadway just past the Greenway by high winds during a thunderstorm last night . The tree cut power to the Reynal Park Coralyn Avenue area last night. Con Ed, WPCNR believes has restored power to this area. Con Edison reports about 225 customers in the Highlands still are without power and hopes to have power restored by 3 PM
WPCNR THE FEINER REPORT. SPECIAL TO WPCNR by PAUL FEINER. Supervisor, Town of Greenburgh.FEBRUARY 24, 2016:
The Town of Greenburgh is near completion of the Town-Wide revaluation-the first in about 60 years. All properties have been reassessed to 100% of their current market value. This has been a long arduous process over the last two years.
(Editor’s note:) The Town also voted to reject the Homestead Option that would have greatly increased the tax burden on commercial property owners and condominium owners and created different tax classes. (The details of how the Homestead Option was rejected are reviewed below.)
The Assessor has attended over 50 public information meetings, she has been on television, radio, and Town Board Meetings. We have also provided updates on the town website. I am hopeful that everyone is aware of this major undertaking for the Town of Greenburgh. We expect that everyone will now pay their fair share of the tax burden.
The Greenburgh Town Board discussed the reassessment process with Town Assessor Edye McCarthy (former Assessor for the City of White Plains) yesterday at our work session. The video link of the entire discussion is below. Participating in the discussion with all the members of the Town Board was a representative of New York State.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OMN5pbnO30&feature=youtu.be
So what happens now: each Greenburgh property owner will receive a “disclosure” notice in mid-March, 2016. This letter will show what your assessment and taxes were before the reassessment and what your assessment and projected taxes will be after the reassessment.
If you are satisfied with your assessed value, you need do nothing further. If you are dissatisfied that your assessment is to high or to low, please contact Tyler Technologies (their contact information will be on the letter) to discuss your new value. You will have from receipt of the letter to the end of April to meet with our Contractor.
If you are still dissatisfied, after their determination, you have the right to file a formal assessment appeal with the Board of Assessment Review in June of 2016. At this time, there is no charge for the informal meeting with Tyler Technologies, nor is there a charge to file a formal assessment complaint. You can file the paperwork on your own, as there is no requirement to hire a representative
Members of the Greenburgh Town Board (Kevin Morgan, Francis Sheehan, Diana Juettner, Ken Jones, and I) decided yesterday to reject the homestead option.. The Town Board asked New York State to do an analysis and all the Board members decided to reject Homestead- after receiving a report from NYS. Of the more than 1,000 jurisdictions in NYS that have reassessed properties only 48 have adopted homestead, according to the Assessor. Most of the Westchester communities that have reassessed also rejected homestead.
During a reassessment, a municipality has the choice of adopting what is known as the “Homestead Option”. Homestead is a tax policy option available to municipalities that implement a reassessment. It creates two classes, homestead (residential) and non-homestead (commercial properties and most condominiums and cooperatives). It also creates different tax rates for each of the classes. Typically the Non-Homestead tax rate is higher.
The purpose of the Homestead is to prevent a dramatic shift in the tax burden to residential property owners in the event that the residential class increases its share of taxable value. There are many factors to take in to consideration prior to making this decision, such as but not limited to: what would happen to the residential class of property; what would happen to the condominiums/cooperatives, and what would happen to the commercial class of property.
At our Town Board work session on February 23rd our Assessor, Monitor and our State Representative, presented data to give us the ability to make an informed decision whether or not to opt in to the Homestead Option. The information supplied indicated that the aggregate tax shifts between the residential and commercial class of properties was a very modest increase of approximately 2% in the aggregate.
However, if we were to adopt this provision, the commercial properties would pay substantially more in property taxes along with over 60% of the condominium owners paying over 30% more of the aggregate tax burden.
This burden would be very difficult to bear for condominium property owners, and we were also concerned about the burden to our commercial owners, as we want to maintain the economic competitiveness that we currently have. We have many large commercial developments interested in coming to Greenburgh (which will assist in relief of the tax burden to our homeowners) and this may create an apprehension, not unwarranted.
For the reasons above, the Town Board unanimously decided against opting in to the Homestead Option.
The members of the Town Board -Diana Juettner, Ken Jones, Francis Sheehan, Kevin Morgan, Assessor Edye McCarthy and I are more than happy to meet with neighborhood groups in the coming months to discuss the reassessment process and to answer questions. If you have any other questions about the process please e mail me at [email protected].
WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. From County Legislator Benjamin Boykin. February 23, 2016:
Con Edison is warning customers not to fall for scams in which a caller threatens a service turnoff unless the customer purchases a pre-paid card or arranges for a transfer via MoneyGram to pay a bill.
These callers are not from Con Edison and Con Edison does not accept payments of electric or gas bills by pre-paid debit cards, or by MoneyGram or similar transfers.
The company has recently seen a spike in reports from customers who were contacted by the scammers. Con Edison believes the scammers are calling customers randomly, not targeting just those who owe back payments. The company has received complaints from residential and business customers.
The scammers sometimes even tell the customer about a store near the customer’s home that sells pre-paid cards. The scammer instructs the customer to pay cash to put money on the card and to then provide the number on the card to the person who called.
Once the customer provides the scammer with the card number, the scammer steals the money on the card.
There have even been reports of these scammers making a Con Edison phone number show up on the customer’s caller ID.
With MoneyGram, scammers may ask a customer to provide money from a bank account, credit card or debit card by going online or to a specified location. The money goes into someone else’s bank account or is available for the receiver to pick up in cash.
Be alert if anyone asks you by telephone to arrange for pre-paid debit cards or a MoneyGram transfer as payment for your bill, or to send money to an out-of-state address. Never arrange payment or divulge account or personal information, including debit or credit card information, over the telephone, unless you are certain you are speaking to a Con Edison representative.
Anyone who feels they may have been a target of an imposter or a payment scam should call their local police department. They may also call Con Edison at 1-800-75CONED.
PART OF THE GATHERING OF CITIZENS AT THE WHITE PLAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY GEORGE WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION SUNDAY AFTERNOON. OVER 60 PERSONS GATHERED TO REFLECT ON THE NATION’S FIRST PRESIDENT.WHO ACTUALLY STAYED AND CONDUCTED STRATEGY ON THE BATTLE OF WHITE PLAINS IN THIS VERY HOUSE.
AN HONOR GUARD OF “CONTINENTALS” MARCHED TO THE FLAGPOLE TO RAISE THE COLORS
RAND SCHOLET, FOUNDER OF THE ALEXANDER HAMILTON AWARENESS SOCIETY GAVE TWO 45-MINUTE PRESENTATIONS SHOWING THE ROLE ALEXANDER HAMILTON PLAYED AS PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON’S “INDISPENSABLE PARTNER.” MR. SCHOLET NOTING THAT PURDY HOUSE WAS OVERFLOWING WITH LISTENERS, DELIVERED HIS TALK AND SLIDE SHOW TWICE SO ALL COULD ENJOY THE PRESENTATION. HE PRESENTED A GRAPH COMPARING THE TIMES OTHER MEMBERS OF WASHINGTON’S CABINET SPENT WORKING WITH PRESIDENT WASHINGTON AND ALEXANDER HAMILTON SPENT THE MOST OF ANY. SCHOLET ALSO POINTED OUT THE BITTER FEUD BETWEEN HAMILTON AND THOMAS JEFFERSON THAT WASHINGTON SCOLDED BOTH MEN FOR NOT BEING MORE RESPECTFUL OF EACH OTHER’S VIEWS.
JOHN VORPERIAN, RIGHT, SERVED AS MASTER OF CEREMONIES AND RECOGNIZED ROBERT HOCH, LEFT FOR HIS NINE YEARS OF SERVICE AS PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY. MR. VOPERIAN IS THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY. VORPERIAN ANNOUNCED THE CITY WOULD BE HOLDING A READING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AT THE ARMORY IN JUNE, DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED, IN RECOGNITION OF THE CITY’S 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS BEING INCORPORATED AS A CITY.