A Statement About Garden City's Finances

Over the last four weeks there have been numerous letters and social media posts that have questioned the finances and fiscal responsibility of our Village. Certain individuals have presented their assumptions in an attempt to scare our residents about the current financial position of our Village. This is a dangerous path to follow. They have used words like “Fiscal Chaos” and even “Bankruptcy” when describing our Village finances. I can no longer allow these statements to go unanswered. I will address several of these, one by one.

“The Board is planning the development of an $80 million hockey rink.” There is absolutely no truth to this claim. Two years ago, when the presentation was made about St. Paul’s, there were numerous ideas of what could be built at St. Paul’s. During those presentations, BBB stated that the first step that we needed to take, before any decision was made, was to preserve what we have. We have authorized the stabilization of the building by closing up broken windows and holes in the roof. We have taken huge amounts of vines off the building that were causing damage. We are in the process of preserving the stained glass in the chapel and we will abate the inside of the building of all chemicals inside. There is nothing else that we have approved. Walter Beal (our general contractor) attempted to verify this on social media and he was attacked for telling the truth. Once again, there is no $80 million hockey rink plan. This is a false narrative that is being spread for the sole purpose of causing controversy that does not exist. It is important to remember that regardless of any conversations, it is the actions of this board that matters.

Next, there are three letters that Mr. George Salem has written. I have spoken to Mr. Salem many times over the years. I know that he loves this Village and believes passionately when he writes his letters but numerous statements that he presents are incorrect. His last letter, “Water Woes,” states that we have issued BANS, which are short-term debt. That is correct. But, the reason that we chose to use this vehicle is because we have already been awarded reimbursable grants from the state, estimated in the amount of $9 million to help offset our costs with the 1.4-Dioxane project. That is a rate of reimbursement for each well of approximately 60 percent. After we file for all our additional grants we will then issue our normal long-term debt that will not be covered by the state reimbursement. It would be irresponsible to issue the total amount now in long-term bonds when we do not know what our final cost would be. In addition, when we issued the BANs they were issued at a premium, which will reduce our borrowing costs by $1.4 million. Once again, we want to immediately address our water issues and not wait for any type of reimbursement from the state. The safety of our Village water is our top priority. Our new water tank will cost approximately $8 million, but we are only financing $6 million. We are paying cash for the other two. In addition, we are using our cash in the water fund to do our well rehabilitations every year. We usually have been doing at least one well per year. Yes, we did raise water rates the last two years due to our water tower replacement (normal infrastructure work with an 86 year old tank) and our 1.4-Dioxane work. Most communities on Long Island have or will face the same increases.

In his letter titled, “High Hopes,” he states that $8.9 million of projects were discussed. What he does not state is that $2.4 million in projects were deferred, representing a 27 percent reduction in capital improvements. That was our Board re-evaluating our budget during our fiscal year and making prudent fiscal adjustments.

Finally, in Mr. Salem’s 9/11 letter he makes several incorrect observations. He states that our Village’s Annual Report should be reviewed quarterly or semi-annually and we need to be more transparent. Since our last budget was passed, Mrs. Woo and her department have provided our Board, in public meetings, updates on our Village, department by department. This was done at the May 21, June 18, July 16 and September 17 Board meetings. Next, he stated that we have no balance sheet in our GC finances. I called Mr. Salem and told him that is on the Village website and it has been there for the last five years. He stated that we have lost $500,000 in real property tax revenue from the Sears building. Incorrect; the real property taxes owed on that building is $210,285 for the 2020-21 fiscal year, and the full year taxes were paid by the property owner. Lastly, Mr. Salem states that due to our imprudent management we will doom our AAA rating. On our last Moody’s report, and I quote from Moody’s: “The village benefits from strong Fiscal Management, ample reserves and liquidly, minimal debt burden and manageable pension and retiree healthcare liabilities. Strong financial management continues to contribute to annual surplus operations.”

My last topic is the overall fiscal health of our Village. When COVID-19 hit our community and our Village, every manager and every employee stepped up. Due to their efforts we as a Village are not facing any massive layoffs or massive tax hikes. All you have seen is prudent fiscal management. I am very proud of all the hard work our employees have done in a very difficult year. To spread this false information is a slap in the face to every one of our employees. As I have always stated, we can always agree to disagree on any topic. I just ask that before you present your argument to the public that you review your facts.