WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Board of Legislators. April 15, 2008: Chairman of the County Board of Legislators Bill Ryan (D, IN, WF-White Plains) today announced $1.84 million in funding for a major upgrade to
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The budget with the new state aid increases $400,000 from the previous Preliminary Budget ($184 Million) to $184,420,859 – a year to year increase of 5.95% (about double the inflation rate of 3.3%). This results in a new tax rate of $503 per $1,000 of assessed valuation (down from $506.61 two weeks ago). This results in a $54 saving to the taxpayer. The median home in White Plains will pay $12,580 in taxes to the schools, city and county as a result.
The effect of the new budget on the median White Plains home saves the owner of a home assessed at $15,000, a total of $24 in taxes. The tax increase in the new budget is $425.85 — for a total school tax of $7,501 for the $15,000 assessed home.
Here is how the taxes shape up for various home values in the White Plains market. The assessments are the average assessments supplied by the City Assessor.
School District — $21,227
City Tax — $6,279
County Tax — $5,492
Estimated 2008-2009 Total Taxes on $2 Million Home: $32,998
Taxes– $1.5 Million Home Assessed at $31,650
School District — $15,920
City Tax — $4,709
County Tax –$4,119
Taxes — $1.5 Million Home: $24,748
$1 Million Home Assessed at $ 21,100
School Tax: $10,613
City Tax: $3,139
County Tax: $2,746
2008-2009 Estimated Total Tax: $16,498
$700,000 Home with STAR ($14,775 Assessed Value)
School District — $7,431
City Tax — $2,750
County Tax –$2,400
Estimated TOTAL TAX BILL for a $700,000 Home: $12,581
Taxes – $400,000 Home Assessed at $8500
School District– $4,275
City Tax–$1,265
County Tax $1,021
Estimated TOTAL TAX BILL for a $400,000 Home: $6,561*
*Note: These are estimates only and assessments vary on the amenities of individual properties, and these estimates are only meant to give an idea of the impact of the 2008-2009 round of tax increases of school district, city and county tax rates.
Aid Must Be Spent Does Not Result in “Savings”
The school budget has gone up because the state aid is mandated to be spent by the district. Because it is an injection of revenue, the tax rate goes down. Seiler noted that $396,403 of this year’s state aid can be spent on maintenance of the present school district programs. The district is restricted to spending 50% of the remaining $1.1 Million on present programs, and 50% on new programs. The district plans on funding a new science teacher and a coordinator of Special Education programs as part of the new programs, and is looking for other programs (considered new) to spend an additional $359,000 in aid.
The Board voted unanimously to approve the $484.4 Million Budget, and to also include $90,000 in improvements to the baseball field facilities at White Plains High School and Eastview Scbool for safety reasons.
Worry over how hard the state budget revenues are
Fred Seiler, speaking with WPCNR afterward expressed worry that he did not know how “hard” the state’s numbers were. He recalled 1992 when state aid was $6.2 Million. That year he said, the state budget revenues did not match expectations and hundreds of school districts across the state had to make cuts in mid-year, because the individual districts were heavily dependent on the state aid. Seiler said White Plains receives 8.3% of its budget revenues from the state, and is somewhat insulated from the effects of state budget shortfalls.
WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. April 14, 2008: Suprintendent of Schools Timothy Connors, citing a report by Anne Lillis, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services, announced the School District investigated 93 cases of alleged illegal students not official residents of White Plains in 2006-2007 and found 16 to be Non-Residents.
In the current 2007-2008 school year, Connors said 89 alleged illegal students claiming to be White Plains residents have been investigated, and 12 have been found to be non-residents, with 36 found to be legal residents of the city.
Connors said the district employs a private investigator to look into students who have been reported as being possible attendees of White Plains schools illegally. The report notes that such residency cases are brought to the district attention by five means:
1. Returned mail.
2. Suspicion by school persoinnel.
3. Anonymous calls from the public.
4. Through checking of “Residency Affidavits.” For example, if a family moves to White Plains and resides with another family, they must complete a “Residency Affidavit.” Each of these affidavits are investigated before we (the district before we (the district) will register the children. If it is not clear-cut that the family resides here, a residency case is opened and an investigation conducted to determine residency.
5. Through the checking of “Care, Custody and Control Affidavits”. If a family is surrendering the care, custody and control of their child(ren) to another person residing in White Plains, and it is not court-ordered, a “Care, Custody and Control Affidavit” must be completed. These affidavits are subject to district approval based on State Education Laws.
Connors noted that the exclusion of the 28 students would result in considerable savings to the district.
At $26,000 per student to educate an individual in the White Plains schools, the exclusion of the 28 students should result in a savings to the district of approximately $728,000.
WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT . April 14, 2008: The Mayor’s Office announced a news conference toward the end of the week in which Mayor Delfino will, with the help of Westchester Residential Opportunies and financial institutions in the area will begin an initiative to help White Plains homeowners faced with the possibility of foreclosures. The Mayor also questions figures released earlier this month by the County Clerk’s Office on the number of foreclosure actions initiated in White Plains.
Mayor Joseph Delfino, last week at the Common Council Meeting.
Mayor Joseph Delfino, noting the County Clerk’s Office figures on White Plains foreclosures, reported in a news release from the County Clerk at the beginning of April, disagrees with the figures issued on the number of homes where foreclosure proceedings have begun, (54 in the first quarter of this year, according to the County Clerk).
Paul Wood, the Mayor’s Executive Officer, said Mayor Delfino had contacted County Clerk Timothy Idoni to discuss how the figure for White Plains was compiled. Wood said Mr. Idoni was looking into how the foreclosure report for White Plains was put together.
Wood said that the city feels that the inclusion of zip codes 10603 (North White Plains) , 10604 (West Harrison), and 10607 (portions of Greeburgh) might have lead to the so-called inflated figure on White Plains foreclosures. The County Clerk news release reported that in the first quarter of 2008 there were 54 foreclosure actions begun in White Plains and 10 Foreclosure Judgments.
Wood said there were 28 foreclosure actions in the last quarter of 2007, and 23 in the first quarter of 2008 according to White Plains figures.
The County Clerk’s office spokesman said she would check into how the figures were compiled by Zip Code, and would attempt to get a response from County Clerk Idoni.