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 TRACK SIDE.  Special to WPCNR By Tim Sheehan. November 4, 2007: The weather was sunny, clear and crisp; perfect weather for a cross country championship meet.  The place:  Dutchess County’s Bowdoin Park, a 3.125 mile “out and back” course full of steep hills.  The event:  The Section 1 State Qualifier Meet, where the best teams and individual runners can move on and continue to run in the State Championship meet. White Plains Andrew Gelston with a 4th Place finish earned a trip to the State Championship.

DOWN the Stretch He Comes: Andrew  Gelston Securing 4th Place and a trip to the State Cross County Championship with 1000 yards to go

 

 Mike Dapice trying to catch leader of the pack.

Photos by Tim Sheehan

Unlike “ball” team sports, such as basketball, football, soccer, baseball, etc., individual members of a Cross Country team that does not advance can continue to participate in State competitions.  Thus, the team that wins the Section qualifier meet goes on to the State championship but the first 5 individual finishers not from the winning team also get move on to run in the State meet as well.

 This year, on both the boys and girls side, perennial powerhouse Arlington won both the boys and girls Class AA races, so race observers ignored their maroon and white uniforms and concentrated on counting the first five non- Arlington finishers.  Three White Plains runners – senior Andrew Gelston, junior Mike Dapice and senior KK Gilmartin-Donohue, all considered pre-race contenders to qualify – ran with the leader pack and were within striking distance to crack the top 5 finisher spot.

 On the boys side, last year at Westchester Community college, Tiger harrier Mike Dapice finished in the top 5 spots for the non-winning team, edged out team mate Andrew Gelston (who finished 7^th) and earned a spot at the State meet.  This year at Bowdoin, Dapice ran a personal course best time of 17:20, but finished 8^th for non-team winners, and missed the State meet cut. 

Moving on Up Thanks to Dedicated Personal Training.

Banking on an arduous training program that started in the summer, Andrew Gelston turned the tables and finished fourth for non-team winners, running a personal best time of 16:46.  This finish capped a surge of late season stellar finishes for Gelston, who jumped to State meet contender status by winning his heat at the Section 1 Coaches invitational meet held at Bowdoin two weeks ago.

 

Gelston and Dapice after the race. Gelston is taking a call from Scott Boras.

 

The race was fast, with Scarsdale’s Julian Sheinbaum out in front, with a leader pack that consisted of Arlington runners and a swarm of other individual runners from Scarsdale, Suffern, North Rockland, Carmel and White Plains, all of whom had run Bowdoin in the past two weeks with seed times that put all in contention for a State meet berth. 

Halfway up the first hill, Gelston moved into the middle of the leader pack, with Dapice trailing just outside.  On the way back, Gelston moved into the fourth spot, and Dapice was in 12^th but appeared to be moving up.  With 1000 yards to go, Gelston remained in the fourth spot, but two runners from Carmel and Suffern were closing in.  Dapice picked off two runners in the last half mile to finish 10^th (14^th overall) while Gelston held off the runners at his heels and captured the fourth spot (seventh overall).

 

DOWN the Stretch He Comes: Andrew  Gelston Securing 4th Place and a trip to the State Cross County Championship with 1000 yards to go

Mike Dapice Closing in.

One hour later, on the girls’ side, the speedy boys’ times were a harbinger of how fast the girls’ times would be.  As expected, Arlington won the team title, although halfway through the race it appeared as if Suffern might challenge them, which put White Plains observers in a bit of a tizzy:  which runners (Arlington or Suffern) had to be ignored so that the other runners could be counted? 

As expected, Suffern’s Shelby Greany flew out front and won the race, but what was surprising was the appearance of Carmel’s Kristin Reese, who had been injured with a stress fracture in her foot and did not run in a single Cross Country race this Fall. 

While it was nice to see Kristen – who dazzled the White Plains track crowd this past April with a scintillating 800 meter run at the Loucks games – back to running again, her appearance and surprising second place finish in this meet ended up costing KK Gilmartin Donohue a State Meet spot, as KK finished in the 6^th slot for State meet consideration.

 

 KK  Gilmartin-Donohue in earlier Gressler meet this year.

Stymied by an ankle injury which cost her two weeks of early season racing and conditioning in a season that is not very long, which certainly cost her the ability to defend her County Championship title last week, KK gamely came back to form today.  She had made the State meet as a freshman by running 20:24 in the 2004 Bowdoin State qualifier meet and left all but one (Greany) area runners in the dust by running 19:43 in last year’s Federation championship meet, which pits top State meet runners against the Catholic and NYC schools. 

 Going into the race today, it was felt that she had to run somewhere in between those two times in order to qualify, particularly since the Federation meet is held later in the season, with two more weeks to prepare for it.  KK ran according to plan and finished at 19:57, well over a minute faster than she ran the course two weeks ago, and almost 30 seconds faster than her successful State meet qualifying time of 3 years ago.  The problem was that other runners in the AA class simply ran faster.

 

]

 The Girls Are Off!

Though she started out slow (you can’t see her in the picture above), at the mile mark, KK moved into the leader pack, along with runners from Suffern, Carmel and North Rockland.  But with Arlington runners bunched in front and poised to capture the team title, and Suffern’s Greany (18:48) and Carmel’s Reese (19:17) out in front of the pack, poised to take both the first two places in the race and the first two non-team winner State meet spots, the race for the final three individual spots was both nerve wracking and close. 

 Unfortunately, Suffern’s Christy Goldman, Carmel’s Ashley Mauer and North Rockland’s Jackie Giamboli all ran personal bests (below KK’s Federation time from last year) and relegated KK to the 6^th (1^st Alternate) State meet slot, and 8^th place overall.  

KK’s time would have earned her a State meet spot in any of the other Class races that day, but the AA class had too many strong runners who ran phenomenal races. Ultimately, KK finished her high school cross country career with her place secure as one of White Plain’s all time top harriers.

 Both White Plains boys and girls teams finished sixth in the team scoring, with the White Plains girls finishing as the top Westchester county team and avenging an earlier loss to New Rochelle in the league meet.  Another bright spot for the WP girls’ team was the strong finish of freshman Kelly Maguire, who finished in the top 20 runners overall at 20:43, and should be poised for great things next year.

Kelly Maguire: The Future Looks Bright Ahead! 

Andrew Gelston now runs alone this week and prepares for the State meet in Norwood New York – Good Luck Andrew!

 

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Andrew Gelston Headed for States  with Coaches Fred Singleton (l) and Carlos Agudelo (r)

 

Editor’s Note: Last February, KK Gilmartin-Donahue was among 40 track athletes who were denied a chance to run in the West Point State Qualifier meets because their coaches failed to register them. Section I at the time would not make accommodations at the meet to enter the athletes, and those 40 were denied a chance to go to the state meet by Section. The state did not grant them an invitation anyway.  Ms. Gilmartin-Donahue’s performance though a personal best Saturday could not qualify her for the Championships. In retrospect that Section I decision looks really bad because last year Ms. Gilmartin-Donahue was in the running for a state championship because of her times. Officials should think back about how their denial of those 40 athletes, not allowing them to compete and feel very guilty again about that unfeeling, irrational and mean decision.

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. November 3, 2007: With Archbishop Stepinac players scouting them, White Plains gaffes in the second quarter let Saturday’s windswept football game get away as Gorton converted three Tiger miscues into three touchdowns with 5 minutes to go in the half in Yonkers.  Stepinac may be lulled into a false sense of security going into Turkey Bowl in three weeks.

The Tigers had answered on two strong third down conversions by Mike Howard to match Gorton’s first touchdown which resulted from a punt return to the White Plains 7 off a popped up punt. With the Tigers trailing only 7-6 with five minutes to go in the half the White Plains Cheerleaders, yours truly and a handful of parents chilling in the crosswind were feeling confident the boys were building on last week’s 20-6 win over Clarkstown.

The euphoria was brutally ended.

In the first quarter, Gorton scored first as a result of a blooped White Plains punt from their own 27 only traveled 20 yards, bounced to the near sideline, and was picked up by a Gorton returner who tightroped down the sideline to the Tiger 7. Alex Silver then went off tackle for 7 yards and the touchdown. The kick put Gorton up 7-0 at the end of the First Quarter.

White Plains next series was stalled and after their punt, Maurice Thomas recovered a Gorton fumble on the Wolf 27 yard line. Three runs gave them a 4^th and 3 on the Gorton 22. Mike Howard scampered around right end for a first down on the Gorton 15. An illegal procedure (motion) penalty – an all-too-common event this season on the Tigers moved them back to the 20. With a 3^rd and 16 on the Gorton 21, Mike Howard dropped back to pass, was chased in the grasp of a defender, ducked him and rambled up the middle eluding tacklers for 19 yards to the 1 yard line. On second and goal, Mike Quarterback-snuck into the end zone.  His point attempt was low, but still at 7-6, with 5 minutes to go in the half, hey, White Plains was in the game.

For one minute.

After the kickoff, Gorton went back in business at their 30. A run got them to the 47. A late hit by White Plains – another far too common error by WP this year, tacked on 10 yards on to a Gorton gain, giving the Wolves a first down on the Tiger 33. Then the game unraveled. On the first play, Gorton’s runner was stopped at the line of scrimmage coming around left end , but slipped the tackle! He swept to the Tiger 10 where a Tiger had another shot at him and that was missed. Touchdown! Gorton added the point and lead, 14-6 at 4 minutes to go in the half.

OK. It happens.  Gorton kicks off.

On the first play from the Tiger 20, there’s a fumble on the snap and Gorton recovers! On their first down play their receiver slips behind the Tiger deep man on the 5 yard wrests the ball away from him and whirls into the endzone for another 6 points at 3:10. The kick is good and White Plains is in shock, 21-6 Gorton. Two touchdowns in two minutes!

Gorton kicks off again. White Plains on their first play from the 10, fumbles again. Gorton recovers and the Wolves throw another touchdown pass and kick to make it 27-6 at the half. Three minutes to forget, if you are White Plains. The team has had several horrendous sequences like this during the season.

Each team added a touchdown in the second half, but this game was gone in three minutes to forget  in the second quarter.

The Tigers fall to 3 and 6 on the season, with three weeks before their Thanksgiving Day game with Stepinac, where hopefully next season begins.

As of today, the turf is not yet laid on the Parker Stadium, but Landtec, the firm building the new Parker Stadium has 18 days to get the Field Turf down so they can play a football game at Parker Stadium. Hopefully Landtek will not fumble.

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WPCNR’S THE REAL DEAL By The Wedding Jeannie, Jeannie Uyanik. November 3, 2007: Last week’s column alluded to the second biggest regret (video) that often arises after an event is planned.  Unfortunately though, it’s not even close to the first that we hear from brides, grooms, and other clients planning any kind of event – BEING LATE to your own party. 

 

Of course, it never happens to our clients, but it takes a great deal of effort to make sure of that.  It seems so silly really.  Many people doubt it can happen to them, wonder how it ever happens at all, and certainly believe when they are the guests sitting waiting for the guest of honor to arrive (who is already 25 minutes late)  that it’s ridiculous.  And it is. 

 

Jeannie Uyanik, Planner to the World

The Wedding Jeannie

WPCNR Columnista

 

Think about the expense, agony, stress and excitement that goes into planning any large event and it would seem counterintuitive that you wouldn’t manage to arrive on time (even if that is late – late in a fashionable and planned manner). 

But, statistics and surveys all point to the same figures – 50% of brides are late on their wedding day.  45% of other types of major events (where the budget is over $10,000) have one major person in the family show up more than 30 minutes late.  And by late, we don’t mean 10 minutes.  Late to the point of regret is generally 20 minutes or more. 

 It throws your whole day, night and schedule off.  It costs a LOT of money to be late for a wedding.  Think about this; if you are late to your wedding by 30 minutes and you in turn decide that you just want to push the whole thing back in order not to shorten the day, here are a few of the costs that you will inevitably have to pick up.

Overtime Costs

 

1)      Additional labor costs for the venue – because their staff definitely was on time greeting your guests

 

2)      Additional time on the open bar – while you might not need to serve extra food, its in poor taste to keep a party running and shut off the taps

 

3)      Additional time for your photographer/videographer if the last ½ hour of the event was going to feature a big moment (dance, cake cutting, departure, etc).

 

4)      Additional time for the music – DJ or Band – because much like cutting off the alcohol, a party without music looses its flavor

 

5)      Waiting time for buses or limos if they have been reserved for specific times

 

Timeline Life Saver

 

But, all of these things are nothing compared to the stress that a late host feels.  Whenever you are late to an event you have planned, there are feelings of frustration, sadness, irritation at everyone and most importantly, regret that you did not do things differently.

 

So how to avoid all of that?  Simple.  Put together a time line – the more precise the better – as soon as you have all of your vendors in place for an event.  For a wedding, the first things that you have to back out are the invitation times, the venue start and end times and the hair and makeup times.  Everything else will fall into place around those.  Car, travel, photographer arrival – everything will be easier to plug in once you know the basics. 

 

You Can Never Be Too Detailed

 

The more detailed your schedule is, the more ability you and everyone around you will have to

 

a) make comments as to why one thing or another might need more time and in turn, change

 

b) adapt, prepare and execute accordingly.  It’s not stupid to put minutia in like when you are going to shower.  Difficult to believe – but yes, showering when you are surrounded by your closest friends and family ends up being difficult to force yourself to do! 

 

Once the schedule is together – as early as possible in the planning process – send it around to the major players.  Send it to your family, send it to vendors and lie about arrival times if you find a certain group tends to be late. 

 

For instance, a rehearsal usually takes no more than 10 minutes.  We have however found that we spend at least half an hour waiting for the primary participants to arrive.  Avoid this situation by calling for a rehearsal time at 4:00pm knowing that you really want to start at 4:30pm.  The bridal party will have much more fun standing around catching up with everyone than you would if you were waiting for them all to arrive.  It’s your day, so what if everyone has to wait for you. 

 

The Importance of  Slack

 

The best rule of thumb when scheduling an event is to leave plenty of time for everything to get done and remember that the unexpected can happen so always schedule a cushion.  When we sit with our clients, they will often wonder why we schedule an hour to get from point A to point B when it usually takes 20 minutes.  We want to be sure that if there is traffic, if there is an accident, if the limo driver gets a flat tire, we have time to fix it or to allow the schedule to absorb the delay seamlessly. 

 

Don’t plan for things the way you would on an ordinary day.  If you have to pick up something on the day of the event, assume that it will take you twice as long – if you end up having extra time, great.  You will have more time for relaxation and less time for stress and worry.  And, there is a statistical correlation between Murphy’s Law and big events. 

 

Things don’t just miraculously go wrong when you most need them to go right.  Generally, things go wrong because there are a lot more pieces to put together than usual, there is a lot more “fumbling” and there is a lot less cushion. 

 

While scheduling the day itself is supremely important, you will find that scheduling your planning is just as useful.  In particular, people are often surprised at how much time picking out stationery and all the paper pieces used at events can take. 

 

We will provide guidelines on how to maneuver this process seamlessly next week, but in the meantime, use the scheduling rules for all the tasks that you need to complete during planning too, so that there are no regrets at the end!  

 

Note: Got a question or a comment for the Wedding Jeannie? Ms. Uyanik will answer your questions. Simply e-mail her at weddinggenie@candgweddings.com                                                                                                  

 

 

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2007 By John F. Bailey. October 27, 2007: The Downtown Residents Association Candidates Forum opening the floor to questions from individuals from the floor, and not dictating in-turn responses by each candidate produced lively caustic debate Monday evening. Incumbent Councilpersons Dennis Power and Benjamin Boykin defended their experience and did not deny many of the charges leved against them, doggedly proclaiming their willingness to listen, anti-development stands on the Station Plaza proposal, the need for open space. Newcomer Milagros Lecuona  turned in her most spirited and forthright performance to date standing up for the immigrant population, calling for “a continuum of care” for them — in her first such pronouncement on the touchy issue.

The Downtown Residents Association attracted 25 persons to its Candidates Forum at Vintage Monday evening.

 

 

Augostino Zicca , Republican, lead off with an attack on the Common Council failure to deal aggressively with the “huge problem with illegal housing in Battle Hill,” where he lives and was instrumental in discovering a Sex Offender living near a school bus stop which resulted in establishment of an upgraded citywide notification policy by the Department of Public Safety recently put into effect. Zicca said he promised to work to bring in a federal program called 287(g) to work with White Plains Police “to end this overcrowding issue.” He said the council incumbents had been ignoring this issue of illegal immigrants in the city during their tenure.

Democrat Incumbent, Dennis Power explained his ascension to the Common Council through being appointed to fill the late Robert Greer’s seat and being elected in a special election last year. He pointed to his position on the council that lead to the de facto Council rejection of the Exclusivity Agreement sought by the developer of Station Plaza last June, and the council rejection (in the print press)  of a followup Request for Qualifications that the council considered favorable to the same developer in September. He said there needed to be discussion and input from the people developing this area, relative to infrastructure and any development had to be what we (the people) want. Power additionally championed open space in the downtown.

Democrat Milagros Lecuona  played up her experience in architecture and as a member of the county Planning Board as qualifications for evaluating future development projects. She said she was for competition in deciding what should be done in the downtown in the future. She expressed strong support for green building environmental efforts. In regard to the city future she said the city had to rely on the projections for the region in population and demographics in any future development. In regard to close questioning by Mr. Zicca on the illegal population she bristled saying the community needed to provide “a continuum of care,” but did not explain what she meant by that. 

The Republican Cass Cibelli, the moderator Rob Tamboia said, had a class that he taught on Monday evenings and could not attend the forum. Tamboia read a statement for Mr. Cibbelli  in which the candidate said he supported bringing White Plains its own Industrial Development Agency, and as a candidate he would listen to residents and take stands for them.

Candyce Corcoran, the Conservative Party candidate, referenced the `drop in the Equalization Rate revealed last week by The CitizeNetReporter, saying she was going “to cut to the meat,” citing a litany of situations the council has ignored: traffic, the ticket blitz, over construction, and not paying attention to the financial situation of the city, which she said her financial background on Wall Street qualified her to do.  “It doesn’t take a Ph.d to figure it out,” she said. She promised to roll back parking rates, extend parking hours and examine budget cutting .

Anthony Pilla, the Republican from Battle Hill, lamented how Battle Hill has suffered losses over the years: its school, its firehouse and the quality of its neighborhood due to growing illegal, overcrowded housing in the area, calling it “a disgrace.” He said he would work to make “unscrupulous landlords accountable “ and for higher fines for owners of homes operately unsafely and in overcrowded conditions.

Robert Stackpole, the White Plains Independent Party Candidate pointed to his efforts to defeat the Robert Martin proposal for massive housing on the New York Presbyterian Hospital property in 1984 as evidence of his ability to lead and galvanize forces.  He referenced his effort to force the city to address the need to update the city comprehensive plan by his and Levine’s ad hoc Citizen’s Plan Committee in 2004, in which the city was forced to revise its comprehensive plan in a process, which Stackpole said produced “not a decent renewal of our comprehensive plan, and did a very poor job of looking at the impacts.” Stackpole saved his biggest criticism of opponents Power and Boykin, who manages the city’s Budget Management Committee, for last, criticizing them for presiding over a budget that, based on the new equalization rate will, he said create a $33 Million drop in assessments and a 12% city tax increase. (See earlier story.)

Benjamin Boykin, one of the incumbent councilmen dwelt on his eight years of experience, and how he in his Budget Management Committee position, attempted to develop prudent budgets. He did not comment directly on the Equalization Rate bombshell, revealed publicly last week,  or tax increase possibilities raised by Stackpole.  He concentrated on his efforts to bring affordable housing to the city through two projects the Horton Mill project by Silver Lake and the recently opened 42-unit project at South Kensico Avenue.  He said he promised to work for pedestrian safety, and his hopes to relieve traffic congestion by a trolley system he was championing. He said nothing could be really done with the Transit Center (at the White Plains train station) until the city discussed possibilities that fit in with the Department of Transportation plans for the area – the first time any official from the city has even thought about possibly talking with the DOT about developing compatible plans for the station area.

Robert Levine, Independent Part running mate with Mr. Stackpole said he was most qualified to bring “a heavy dose of reality” to the development which he said “was no renaissance at all, but second grade clutter.” He said the development the city has experienced was “a copout” to developers. He said now the question for the future was what to do about it. He called for fiscal planning “to help us get what we’re paying for,”  As to development of the city in the future, he said it had to be determined by “achieving an economy of scale,”  the people felt “comfortable with,” “and you can’t get that scale when every square foot is in the hands of profit-seeking individuals.” He said, “we need to wake up and find out what the Council forgot and have a council who is paying attention to us.”

In the question and answer period, the debate covered more issues in a more lively format and revealing hour than any previous forum.

 

 

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2007. By John F. Bailey with Peter Katz. October 29, 2007:  Thursday, October 24, 1929, is remembered as Black Thursday – the day the stock market crash began, which marked the beginning of the Great Depression. On Monday, October 29, 2007, there was a depressing financial moment here in White Plains for those who were listening carefully to Common Council candidate Robert Stackpole at the forum held by the Downtown Residents Association at Vintage Restaurant.

Robert Stackpole at Monday’s Downtown Residents Association Forum: A Bit of Bad News.

Stackpole, running for Common Council on the Independent Party line along with Robert Levine, spent about 35 years of his career as a Wall Street investment banker. During the candidates’ forum, he revealed that he had made some projections of the financial future for White Plains property taxpayers based on the revised New York State Equalization Rate which has to be used in figuring out how much taxpayers will have to pay. The city has challenged the proposed Equalization Rate for the coming tax year.

The whole issue of the Equalization Rate and calculating how much of the tax burden is borne by commercial property owners versus how much homeowners have to pay is rather complex. We’re not going to attempt to explain how it works in this article. You can find out about it at the web site of the New York State Office of Real Property Services — http://www.orps.state.ny.us/

$33 Million Gap

For openers, Stackpole calculates the city and school district face a $33-million drop in assessments. He calculates this translates into a 9% tax rate increase for the city and an 11% increase in the school tax rate.

Those increases just reflect what would be needed to make up the drop in assessments as calculated by Stackpole. They do not include any increases in year-to-year spending.

$1,000 Tax Increase

Applying this to a $700,000 single-family house in White Plains would result in approximately a  $241 increase in city taxes in 2008-2009 (from roughly $2,600 to $2,840) and an  $800 increase in school taxes in 2008-2009 (from $7,000 to $7,800). Again, that’s just to make up the drop in assessments, and does not make provision for any increases in spending or losses of income in other areas, such as direct state aid. 

The 9% city tax increase and 11% school tax increase would be the minimum.  Stackpole is hopeful he is wrong and that the full market value of property in the city will, when computed by the City Assessor in the spring, come in much higher than he estimates (7% higher – the average rate of increase in full value since 2003- 2004), which would mitigate assessment impact. The higher the full market value, Stackpole says, the better it will be for the city.

Only Your Assessor Knows for Sure.

The Full Market Value of all properties is calculated by the City Assessor annually, and this year will be presented on March 1, 2008. (This year’s market value is $9.1-billion, and Stackpole estimates it will go up 7%, the average for recent years, to $9.77-billion.)

 

Full Valuation Last 4 years (2003-2004 to 2007-2008) from the City 2007-2008 Budget.

Keep in mind that if spending increases at about the rate of inflation (about 3%), that would have to be added to the increase Stackpole expects would have to be made to make up for the decrease in assessments (i.e., 3% + 9% = 12% for the city; 3% + 11% = 14% for the school district).

Stackpole used the “working” 2.69% Equalization Rate figure released to the city by New York State last week (now being appealed). He calculated that the city will lose roughly $33-million off the March 1, 2008, Assessment Roll, resulting in a $7-million shortfall in city tax receipts – and a $14-million loss in School District receipts.

Assessed Valuation through 2006-2007 — from City Budget.

 

Sales Tax to the Rescue?

Should the city receive the one-half percent sales tax increase the administration proposed, but the request to Albany for which is being delayed by the Common Council, the increase in the city tax rate which Stackpole forsees might not be necessary.

However, as things stand now, the School District would receive no share of increased sales tax revenue and the school district’s tax increase to meet the assessment gap would have to be extracted from payers of property taxes or other revenue sources.

During an interview with WPCNR, Stackpole figured that if the city is unsuccessful in challenging the Equalization Rate, it faces a minimum $13 per thousand city tax increase, (to $155 per $1,000 of assessed value per home from the present $142/ $1,000 of assessed value).

School District Increase?

WPCNR took a look at the school district and figured that the $14-million gap would mean a $53 per thousand school tax increase (to $527 per thousand dollars of assessed value from the present $474/$1,000 of assessed value).

Strictly Based on Trend.

The assessed value of properties in the city is $296-million as of 2006-2007. Stackpole used this figure because he said this was a “hard” figure already documented. Stackpole says that when you subtract the $33-million, you wind up with an assessed value of $263-million.

$296 Million Minus $263 Million is $33 Million.

The present city tax rate of $142 per $1,000 of assessed value yields $37-million in receipts (263,000 x $142= $37Million). The present city budget for 2007-2008 calls for a property tax levy of $44-million. That leaves a $7-million gap for 2008-2009.

Stackpole estimated that to make that up the city would have to add $13 to the $142/$1,000 of assessed valuation to yield the property tax it requires. That brings the city tax rate to $155/$1,000 of assessed valuation.

Stackpole Says It’s “Grim.”

The sobering part of this projection is that it is applied to the present city budget and the present school budget with no increases in spending.  Any increase in the city budget of $154.5-million and the school budget of $174-million would force an increase in the tax rates unless other sources of income can be found.

“I’m not sure that people realize how grim this really is,” Stackpole told WPCNR.  He  said that in his computations, he allowed for an average 7% growth in full valuation, multiplied by the proposed new Equalization Rate.

Stackpole applied the 2.69% Equalization Rate to last year’s $9.1-billion full market value plus $630-million, adding 7% for a total of $9.7-billion to reflect the average yearly growth of full market value over the last 7 years.

Poof! $33 Million in Assessments Vanishes.

He multiplied the $9.7-billion figure by the 2.69% Equalization Rate, which gives $263-million of Assessed Value. He subtracted the figure of $263-million from the 2006-2007 hard figure of $296-million in Assessed Value which computes assessments as $33-million lower.

The assessed value figured in the 2007-2008 budget is $289-million, but Stackpole decided to use the hard figure of $296-million from 2006-2007 for a more conservative figure. The School District budget uses a $292-million figure for assessed Value in their 2007-2008 Budget.

Sales Tax Cure?

The sales tax increase sought by the city will yield $10-million according to city hall. That kind of revenue boost would take care of a $7-million shortfall caused by the assessment dip, as well as pay for salary and benefits increases of $3-million.

In a “Letter to the Editor” of The Journal News, Mayor Delfino hinted about property tax relief, which some people may have interpreted as a suggestion that some or all of that $10-million from an increase in the sales tax rate could be used to provide property tax relief. But, if Stackpole’s calculations hold up, there might not be any money available for a tax cut.

Back to the School District.

Bear in mind, the School District needs to start paying off the first of their bondings for the Capital Improvement plan and come up with another teacher contract settlement in 2008-2009, so the possible major erosion of assessments Stackpole sees would add unforeseen pain to the district budget-making process this year.

WPCNR used the math to see what the city school district shortfall might be.

At $263-million of Assessed Value, WPCNR multiplied the $474 per $1,000 of assessed valuation school tax rate by that number ($474 x 263,000 = $124.6M) coming up with a $124.6-million tax levy yield.

The tax levy yield in the present 2007-2008 City School Budget now in progress is $138.5-million. Stackpole noted to WPCNR, “this is a $14-million gap.”

 

The Present 2007-2008 School Tax Levy ($474.62 per $1,000 Assessed Valuation)

To meet that $14-million gap, WPCNR estimates the school district would have to add $53 to the $474 per $1,000 of assessed value tax rate.  ($53 x 263,000 = $14M; $474 plus $53/1,000  = $527/$1,000 /x 263,000 = $138.6 Million)

Stackpole said, “You have to be stupid not to see it (the budget effect on the taxpayers). You do not need a CPA degree or MBA degree to see that the budget is out of whack.”

Condos Killing the Assessments?

WPCNR asked Stackpole if he felt the equalization rate was affected by the number of condominiums which have been built in White Plains recently, many valued at more than  $1-million. He said that condominiums had a great deal to do with it, since condominiums are taxed at half or less-than-half the rate of stand-alone homes, “and we’re not getting enough bang for the buck out of the condos, we’re falling behind.”

As part of a WPCNR analysis of the equalization rate on this website last May,  we interviewed an assessor who stated, in part:

“As we are all aware, all property values have increased significantly over the last 10 years. However, some residential properties have increased at significantly higher rates than the other three categories: commercial property, vacant land and utility properties. This situation affects the weighting of the categories resulting in so much weighting to residential that it is lowering the equalization rate and that’s bad.                            

“The Equalization Rate works conversely. As market value increases, it is indicative that the Equalization Rate decreases, and vice-versa.

“Because a lot of Westchester municipalities have a significant amount more residential properties and the residential properties are increasing at a faster pace, the Equalization Rate is skewed, leaning more towards the residential constituent.”

 

What Can Be Done.

 WPCNR asked Stackpole, regardless of who is elected, what he thought had to be done to reverse this trend.

 

He said, “The New York State Legislature has to have some interest in changing the rules on evaluating commercial property. The legislature should change the taxation laws on cooperatives and condominiums which are taxed at half the rate of residential properties.” Stackpole added that the legislature should “pass the ½% sales tax (for White Plains) to mitigate some of the problems.”

 

 

He called on the Common Council to change policy on the city response to certioraris filed against the city, providing for a way of recapturing from the filing property the revenue the reassessment costs the city, and to look at new revenue sources. Stackpole pointed out that mortgage tax income, which he said has helped for the last couple of years, would be lowering as home sales slowed.

 

 

PILOTS Take Toll on Assessment Roll

 

Stackpole singled out the granting of PILOTS as costing the city more in assessable value than they bring in Payments in Lieu of Taxes. He pointed out that had the city not granted the PILOTS covering long periods of time (10 to 15 years), all the full market value of finished projects now on PILOTS for the next decade or more would be on the city tax rolls, considerably adding to the city’s Full Market Value, lessening the impact on assessable value determined by the Equalization Rate.

 

He did not estimate what he thought the PILOT properties were worth, just pointing out that the longer any PILOT lasts, the more the tax rolls and the taxpayers are deprived of the full benefit of development.

 

 

WPCNR figured what the Full Market Value of properties in White Plains would have to be to stop the decline in assessed value.

 

Just for the sake of demonstration, WPCNR used the Equalization Rate of 2.69%.

If Full Market Value reaches $10-billion, the drop in assessment value is only $27-million ($10B x .0269 = $269-million subtracted from $296-million (06-07 assessed value) = $27-million)).

If the total market value of all properties increases to $11-billion, there would be no drop in assessment value in 2008-2009 ($11-billion x .0269 = $296-million).