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 QUILL & EYESHADE. From New York State Department of Taxation & Finance. August 12,2010:

The July Sales Tax Report was handed down to WPCNR today by  Susan Burns of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance showing White Plains July sales tax collected $286,053 more in sales tax receipts over last July’s figures. (July is the first month of the new city fiscal year

 City Sales tax receipts of $3,717,403 beat the county July sales tax pace, benefiting from a ¼% city sales increase that went into effect June 1, raising July sales receipts 8.34%  (though short of the proportionate increase in the sales tax, 12%) while County Sales Tax receipts continued robustly, up 7.63%.

The city sales receipt for July ($3,717,403), is below the July, 2008 high water mark of July collections of the last five years of $3,938,114, reflecting the pace of sales prior to the beginning of the 2008 economic downturn.

On the county side of the sales tax ledger,  county sales tax continues headed for a surplus with its continued strong showing in July with its 7-1/2% rate of growth sustaining itself another month. Should the county continue on this 7-1/2% sales tax increase trend, the county will generate an $11 Million sales tax surplus, realizing approximately a $444 Million sales tax handle for fiscal year 2010, generating a $12 Million surplus in sales tax receipts over the expected and forecast $432.6 Million.

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WPCNR County Clarion-Ledger.. By John F. Bailey. August 10, 2010:

County Executive Rob Astorino in chatting with WPCNR after addressing the White Plains Council of Neighborhood Associations in White Plains Tuesday night, said he would deliver a balanced budget to the county legislature by November 1, with no increase in the county property tax.

County Executive Rob Astorino addressing the Council of Neighborhood Associations Tuesday at Education House.

He said his administration had already cut $36 Million from a deficit of $166 Million, and had identified $40 Million more in savings, projecting the present deficit as $90 Million. He told WPCNR that if the County Board of Legislators added back spending, he would exercise his line item veto, telling WPCNR, “They have made it clear they have no problem raising taxes, so I will veto.”

County Executive Rob Astorino spoke with WPCNR after he made to this reporter’s knowledge the first appearance ever by a Westchester County Executive before the White Plains Council ofn Neighborhood Associations.

Addressing the audience of 45 persons, beginning at 8:50 P.M. Mr.Astorino covered a range of subjects, mostly having to do with budget issues.

 In his general remarks beginning with Playland, say it would not close, but held out the possibilities of less rides, or possibly more rides, licensing a private vendor to run the park and adding other uses to the historic park, citing the success of the Tiki Bar on the Boardwalk that had amazing success. He said that 70% of the users of the park are not residents of Westchester County, and “that has to change.”

He said that the county needed to cut the  $32 Million it spends in child day care by raising the qualifications to participate in county day care services.

In response to a question whether the county would exercise a countwide revaluation of real estate, (to equalize property tax burdens),  Astorino said he would not unless a majority of the cities and municipalities asked for it, echoing his predecessor, Andy Spano, on that question..

Astorino said he did not feel the County Police force could be trimmed significantly because of the services it provides for villages and municipalities which do not have detective services, bomb squads, and lab facilities, but did say he had achieved significant savings in overtime by transferring county police personnel back to patrol duty.

The County Executive also said he was working through commissioners to get them to come up with savings in their departments, saying, “I do not have all the answers, but I can ask a lot of questions.”

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. August 14,2010:

Archbishop Stepinac High School, located at 950 Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains, will hold its Fall Open House on Sunday, October 17, from 1 to 4 p.m.    The event, which is open to 7^th and 8^th grade students throughout Westchester and the Bronx, will provide parents and future high school students with information about the school, along with its academic, sports and extra-curricular programs.

 The Open House will begin with a welcome from school officials and a video presentation in the auditorium. Current high school students will then conduct separate tours for parents and students.  The event will conclude in the gymnasium, where teachers, coaches and students will provide information on various course offerings, sports teams, clubs and other school activities.

For more information on the Stepinac High School Open House, please visit www.stepinac.org.

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WPCNR CNA NEWS. August 10,2010: 

The August meeting of the White Plains Council of Neighborhood Associations (WPCNA) will be held on Tuesday, August 10 at 7:30 pm in the lower meeting room of Education House, 5 Homeside Lane, White Plains.

The meeting will feature two presentations in the CNA Leadership in Governance Series:

    * Thomas Roach, Esq., President of the White Plains Common Council, will deliver the keynote address, exploring “Leadership in a Fiscal Crisis.”
    * Rob Astorino, Westchester County Executive will round out the evening with a brief topical presentation followed by a question and answer period.

A brief business meeting will be held before the featured presentations.  During the business meeting:

    * Linda Levine, the Mayor’s Representative, will distribute leaflets about the Youth Bureau’s 40th Anniversary celebrations.
    * Arnie Bernstein, the new President of the White Plains Downtown Residents Association will introduce himself and discuss his goals.
    * Events permitting, White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong will attend and introduce himself.

WPCNR asked Lou Bruno, CNA Co-President, why Robert Castelli, who is the incumbent 89th District Assemblyman, was not invited to address the CNA, too.

(Mr. Roach will be running against Castelli in November, provided Mr. Roach wins the Democratic Primary in September).

Mr. Bruno in a statement, explained: “No need to rush the season. Tom will be talking on Tuesday about leadership, which as you know has nothing to do with politics. We’ll have a Roach-Castelli debate as part of the October Candidate’s Night.”

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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. By John F. Bailey. August 9, 2010:

A spokesperson for the New York State Budget Division press office, Eric Kriss denied today that stimulus money from the ARRA (American Reinvestment and Recovery Act) was directly figured into closing the $9.2 Billion budget gap last week, as reported by 89^th District (White Plains-Lewisboro) Assemblyman Robert Castelli  Friday. The $5.7 Billion (in unused stimulus money)  going to plug the budget gap was reported by Castelli to WPCNR Friday.

However, on closer questioning, Kriss allowed that $5.7 Billion in stimulus money was in the budget, so in a sense, “it was true,” that the ARRA money was balancing the budget.

Robert Whelan of the Comptroller’s Press Office confirmed to WPCNR that $5.7 Billion of stimulus (ARRA funds) was included in the budget, and  contributed to filling the budget gap, and was indeed unspent. He said it depended on what you spent it on during the course of the current year, but it would be spent. Whelan added that the Comptroller’s Office pointed out in July that$14.8 Billion in the present 2010-11 budget passed last week was based on “non-recurring revenues.” “We have a balanced budget, not a good budget. We have balanced the budget on hope,” Whelan told WPCNR.

Asked if the Comptroller would be breaking down how the $9.2 Billion gap is actually being met, said the Comptroller’s Office was in the process of analyzing the budget passed last week.

Kriss, the press spokesperson for the budget office denied that the $5.7 Billion of ARRA money was filling the major portion of the budget gap, because “none of it (the ARRA $5.7 Million)  was included in figuring the gap. We used $800 Million of the FMAP (federal Medicaid reimbursement funds), but did not include the stimulus money.” Kriss said that Castelli probably got that information that the  $5.7 Billion stimulus funds were balancing the budget from the Comptroller’s Office.

Kriss maintained the $9.2 Billion gap was closed by  withholding tax credits from businesses, tax increases, sales tax increases, fee increases and cuts made previously in interim spending bills passed over the last three months were used to eliminate the $9.2 Billion gap.

WPCNR asked if the state was borrowing from the pension fund as  Assemblyman Castelli reported. Kriss denied the pension fund involvement  “in the traditional sense,” because, he said the $1 billion attributed as “pension borrowing” by Castelli was not borrowing, and that it has not been decided whether or not to do this  yet, that the state was instead,  going to “amortize” part of the state pension fund costs for this year, but would not actually decide to do that until March of 2011.

Kriss  asked by WPCNR today if unused ARA money was still in the budget  allowed that  “ARRA funds in the amount of $5.7 Billion were included in the (passed) budget, so I suppose in that sense, (of being included in the budget) it is true.”

The July Comptroller’s Analysis

On page 5 of a news release from the Comptroller’s office analyzing the revenue plan, the Comptroller’s office writes:

“The State Fiscal Year 2010-11 Executive Budget included approximately $12.8 billion in non-recurring or temporary resources, most of which were accepted int the Enacted Budget.This includes $5.7 Billion in federal stimulous funds as well as $5.5 billion from the temporary increase in the Personal Income Tax enacted last year, both of which are scheduled to expire in the near future.”

Tab for State Government: $374 Million a Day.

Given that the 2010-11 New York State budget passed last week is $136.5 Billion, it costs New Yorkers $373,972,600 a Day to open New York State every day.