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 ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Office of the New York State Comptroller. (EDITED)with Reporting by WPCNR September 2, 2009: Local sales tax revenues across New York State, including New York City, were down 8.9 percent, or $640 million, for the first seven months of 2009 compared with same period last year, according to an analysis released Tuesday by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

This report backs up WPCNR’s analysis of August 18 based on figures from the Department of Taxation and Finance  that White Plains retail sales continued their decline, down 12.5% year to year in the first month of the city fiscal year in July, the second straight month sales tax had declined from the previous year. This latest number continues the trend first reported by WPCNR six months ago indicating White Plains retail was running 12% behind 2007-2008 collections, and Westchester County is down 13% in sales tax through seven months.

“It’s not surprising that local sales tax revenues are down so significantly,” DiNapoli said. “Back-to-school shopping makes September a very important month for sales tax revenues. Local governments need to take a hard look at the September data. Just like the state, if local governments are not on track to meet their budgeted revenues for the year, they need to make adjustments in their spending now without placing a greater burden on local taxpayers.”

While every region of the state experienced declining local sales tax revenues, Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley declined the most at 10.1 percent each. New York City saw a decline in sales tax revenues of 10 percent, or $285 million. The Mohawk Valley saw the least decline at 3.2 percent during the first seven months of 2009.

Counties experienced a 7.6-percent decline from January to July of this year over the same seven months last year. If this trend continues for the remainder of the year, counties may see their first annual decline in sales tax revenues in 18 years. Back-to-school shopping makes September the most important sales tax collection period outside of the holiday shopping season, making it a key month for local governments to watch.

Six counties had sales tax revenues decline by double digits: Putnam, Delaware, Westchester, Monroe, Suffolk and Saratoga. The only counties to experience sales tax revenue growth were Seneca, Schuyler, Tioga and Genesee. These increases were mostly due to payment timing issues, although about one-third of Seneca County’s 13.1-percent growth was due to new retail development.

Click here to view DiNapoli’s analysis.

Click here to download audio from Comptroller DiNapoli on this topic.

Here is partially what WPCNR reported on White Plains and Westchester County trends two weeks ago:

If sales tax does not recover significantly (and holds at the present level),  to make up that shortfall, the city would have to enact an 18% property tax increase.

The County of Westchester sales tax receipts are down 12.9% over the first six months of the county 2009 fiscal year.

Common Council President Benjamin Boykin told WPCNR in July, when the final quarter of 2008-09 fiscal year failed to meet projections of the City Finance Commissioner by $1 Million , that he is going to call for a budget review in September.

Westchester County sales tax collections in the first six months of 2009 have declined  too. The county “handle” on sales tax receipts is down 13%. The county collected $33.8 Million less in fiscal 2009 at the halfway point than the county did in 2008, according to statistics from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Office of Tax Policy Analysis.

The pace of retail sales projected by White Plains Week and WPCNR in the spring of this year continues to indicate key sales tax collection in the city are consistently 12 to 13% off.

On the county level the county as of midway is running $3.8 Million behind in sales tax receipts, 12.5% below the collection pace of last year after half of the 2009 fiscal year. If the retail trend continues, the county would face a $3.8 Million deficit in sales tax receipts for the year.  The county budgeted to collect $478,235,000 in sales tax for the year.

In the first six months of 2008, Westchester County collected $271,096,156.95  in sales tax. In the first six months of 2009, they collected only $237,221,726.61, a decline in receipts of 12.5%.

This combined with obvious deficits in mortgage and hotel tax collections is not a positive trend.

In White Plains if the 12.9% fall-off in retail sales  tax collections continues it means the city faces a $6 Million budget shortfall. It already has a $1 Million deficit left over from 2008-09. The city budget calls for collecting  $47,250,000 in sales tax in 2009-2010. If the 12.9% decline continues, the city will only raise $41 Million in sales tax.

However, August is the second most lucrative retail sales month of the year next to the holiday season in the second quarter, so there is hope this is just a sluggish start. To correct the nearly 13% decline in July, the city would need to generate a half million dollars more in August sales tax receipts to get back on track with their hoped-for  sales tax pace. In August, 2008, the city collected $3.9 Million in sales tax (however that was inflated by the additional ¼% sales tax added last year. The cumulative effect of a soft retail market is not easily erased.

DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION & FINANCE

OFFICE OF TAX POLICY ANALYSIS

SALES TAX MONTHLY CASH/COLLECTIONS REPORT

MONTH OF JULY 2009

                                  CASH JULY 09          CASH JULY 08    CUMULATIVE          CUMULATIVE

                                                                                                               CASH  09                 CASH   08

 White Plains City       $3,431,350.08           $3,938,113.71          $25,379,226.67      $26,641,410.77

Westchester Cty         $31,249,530.49         $35,646,779.50        $237,221,726.61   $271,096,156.95

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. By John Bailey. September 1, 2009: Patrick Dunne, former pastor of  Our Lady of Sorrows in White Plains, appeared in New York Supreme Court this morning before Judge Barbara Zambelli at a proceeding to determine his readiness for trial on a charge of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a Class “C”Felony for allegedly stealing over $432,000 from “various parish accounts” from 2002 through 2007.

Dunne, dressed in blue blazer, vanilla golf shirt, khaki trousers and topsider loafers appeared in court with his attorney Richard Ferrante, was asked for his home telephone number by the judge, and after giving it, the Judge advised him that if he did not appear September 10, a warrant would be issued for his arrest. At the September 10 proceeding, a judge would be assigned for the upcoming trial  and  a date for the trial to start would be assigned.

A spokesman for the District Attorney told WPCNR, said he expected the trial date would occur sometime in the fall.

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WPCNR MR. AND MRS. AND MS. WHITE PLAINS SURVEY. August 31: The latest unseemly fiasco  and stenchy stink bomb emanating from the Westchester County Board of Elections, if Councilman Glen Hockley is to be believed, is just amazing.

What a catch by the vigilants! Mr. Hockley fails to file a Certificate of Acceptance. Yet, he’s run for Council before. And nobody tells him he needs it, even though he asked.

Mr. Hockley alleges he asked repeatedly if his information in filing his petitions was in order, and was never told of the need for him to sign a Certificate of Acceptance to get on the November ballot,  is the second time in two years the Board of Elections in Westchester County is showing prejudice against a maverick, independent candidate running against the established party candidates based on technicalities similar to the George Brett pinetar bat incident of 1978.  

Is this a message to independents that if you buck the mainstream parties, you have no chance?

Two years ago, the Westchester Board of Elections attempted to keep  Candyce Corcoran off the ballot running as a member of the Conservative Party because she failed to sign her county and home town on her petitions. Everyone knew she was from White Plains and lived in Westchester County.

The Commissioners apparently did not know the law then. The courts, as Ms. Corcoran pointed out to Mr. LaFayette (Reginald) and Ms. Sunderland (Carolee), at the time had ruled in a previous case  in favor of a candidate in Suffolk County who had made a similar error, and ordered he be placed on the ballot. Sheepishly, the Board then allowed Ms. Corcoran on the ballot. How incompetent!

Now we have Mr. Hockley acquiring 2,000 signatures, asking the Board of Elections if he needed anything else or any other actions to be completed, and not being told he needed a Certificate of Acceptance.  Or, so Mr. Hockley says.

You need a high priced election lawyer, Glen. Perhaps Mayor Joseph Delfino can hire you a lawyer to put together a Show Cause order based on prejudice, after all the Mayor on his “Farewell Tour”has the money just sitting there in the Friends of Joe Delfino political action fund and he’s not using it.  I’d give Joe a call. After all you have supported him steadfastly on every issue the Mayor has been behind.

 Ms. Sunderland could not be reached for comment, and Mr. LaFayette is not listed in the Westchester County telephone book, so he could not confirm that Mr. Hockley asked LaFayette personally if he needed to complete any other requirements.

Obviously operating the Board of Elections in Westchester County competently — regardless of the incompetence of possible candidates — I mean, not being able answer a question, or perish the thought, withholding the proper answer — if they indeed they did,  is beyond the talents of Westchester County.

But what of other Board of Elections around the state? Do they have such problems, too? Not knowing the law and withholding knowledge of the law (as Mr. Hockley alledges).

Perhaps it is time to take the Board of Elections away from New York Counties and put them in the hands of the U.S. Court System and have them make the appointments  taking it out of the patronage trough?

What do Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. White Plains think? Answer in the poll on the right. You can also vote as to whether, the Board of Elections should put Hockley on the ballot anyway despite the missing Certificate of Acceptance.

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2009. By John F. Bailey.  August 28, 2009 UPDATED 9:20 P.M. E.D.T.:

WPCNR has learned from informed sources that the Westchester County Board of Elections Friday informed Councilman Glen Hockley that he has been denied a place on the November city ballot running  for the office OF Mayor.

The reason, according to our sources, is  because Mr. Hockley failed to sign and file a Certificate of Acceptance of his nomination, a document that is required by election law to be filed within three days of the deadline for his petitions which was August 18. He was required to file the Certificate of Acceptance by Friday, August 21.

The letter to Hockley dated Friday, August 28 states, according to persons who have seen the letter, and WPCNR quotes, “An Independent Nominating Petition “People Over Politics” filed August 18, 2009 purporting to nominate you for the public office of Mayor for the City of White Plains is invalid.”

The WPCNR source quotes the letter as citing  New York State Election Law 6-158(7), “states in part a certificate of acceptance of a party nomination for an office to be filled at the time of the general election shall be filed not later than the third day after the last day to file the petition.” (That would be Friday, August 21.

The WPCNR source reports the last paragraph of the letter signed by Reginald A. LaFayette, and Carolee C. Sunderland, Commissioners of the Westcheson County Board of Elections, reads, in part, “you failed to submit an acceptance for the “People over Politics”, the peition is invalid and your name will not appear on the ballot for Mayor for the City of White Plains on the November 3, 2009 general election ballot.”

WPCNR is attempting to reach Mr. Hockley for an explanation.

The ruling which was noticed to Mr. Hockley today, means White Plains will have only one person running for Mayor for the first time in the history of the city. That person is Adam Bradley.

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WPCNR NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS. By John F. Bailey.  August 28, 2009: If you employ a landscaping service to maintain your property, collection and removal of leaves from your property will not change this year. Landcaping crews will be permitted under the new city leaf collection policy to cart leaves unbagged to the city dump at Gedney way.

The New White Plains Leaf Bag Demonstrated by John Bailey.

Residents “Who Bag Their Own,” who collect their own leaves this fall will be expected to scoop and deposit their leaves into these bags this fall. Yard Service firms will still be allowed to collect leaves loosely and deposit them at the Gedney Dump. The  New City Leaf Policy ends decades of an automatic service residents have taken for granted.

The New City Leaf Policy Explained.

Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti. July 2009.

If you take care of your own yard, you will be responsible for collecting your leaves and stuffing them into a 40-gallon paper bag or bags and leaving the bags for a once-a-week pickup by a sharply curtailed city leaf collection squad. No leaves are allowed to be left in piles in city  streets this year. It was not clear whether there would be a penalty for non-compliance with the new White Plains leaf-bagging policy. The policy change was touted by Commissioner of Public Works Joseph Nicoletti as contributing $1.1 Million in savings for the city this fiscal year, made possible by layoffs of ten salaried workers and an unspecified number of part-time workers.

According to Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti, in an interview with WPCNR Wednesday, ten city public works employees have been terminated and part-time workers employed in the intensive leaf collection of the past have also been eliminated. However, a list of actual workers terminated from the DPW was requested by WPCNR of the Mayor’s Office, and we await this list. 

A list of positions and salaries terminated by other departments city wide though requested repeatedly by WPCNR, for months has not been made public by the Mayor’s Office. Nicoletti said that the ending of the city’s collection of piles of leaves curbside will save the city $1 Million over leaf collection last year, and $100,000 in overtime saved in weekend and holiday leaf pickup in November and December when trucks would previously be converted for snow removal.

Nicoletti said the 10 workers laid off are those assigned to the rake-and-sweep crews in the past. They operated leaf-pick up equipment which previously included a massive truck with a claw to lift piles of leaves into trucks, vacuum trucks to clear drains and suck leaves into collection trucks, and street-sweeper trucks. These leaf task forces will not be in action this fall.

Instead, if you are well-to-do and employ a professional grounds landscaping service to cut your lawn and collect your leaves, those services can continue as they have in the past.

The professional, though, in order to use the City Dump to dispose of the leaves, needs to purchase a coupon book from the Department of Public Works for $750 which buys them 20 visits to the city dump to deposit loose leaves.  No longer will landscape teams be able to simply dump leaves in the street awaiting city pickup. The Coupon Book policy is not new and has been in effect many years, Nicoletti said.

The Leaf Bags

If you take care of your own yard, the city is making available paper, biodegradable leaf bags that property owners have to put  their yard leaves into, in order for the city to collect them. Those bags, according to Nicoletti, will be available at the Gedney Landfill for purchase for 50 cents a bag in packs of 10 bags. The city purchased 10,000 bags through a Westchester County contract at about 45-47 cents apiece, (approximately $4,700) according to Nicoletti. The bags are 40 gallon-capacity bags.

Nicoletti said filled bags should be left within the boundary of a resident’s property and not placed in the street. City crews would begin picking up the leaf bags October 13. He advised mulching the leaves with a lawnmower to fit the most leaves into each bag. He had no estimate as to how many bags were needed per size of lot.

Asked if the new City Leaf Bags were waterproof, Nicoletti said “Yes and No,” that the bags were biodegradable, but were sturdy enough to resist deterioration from rain. Nicoletti added that the once or twice a week leaf collections would prevent the bags from being left at the mercy of the elements.

The bags have been delivered to the Highway Department and are now on pallets. They will be available for purchase the first two weeks of September by private citizens only.